Beyond the Stratosphere
by LifeNDeath72
Summary: Nobody knew the exact reason as to why Tabane Shinonono first created the IS. Her family didn't know, her best friend kept her lips sealed, and she herself went under the radar. Some thought sports, others thought war. Unknown to the speculators, the answer was winking at them right in the face... literally. Double Xover with To Love-Ru. Naruto/Harem.
1. The Bunny-Eared Inventor

**The Bunny-Eared Inventor**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Infinite Stratos or To Love-Ru.**

**Prelim Note: **Many thanks to Fairy Tail Dragon Slayer for letting me borrow the whole Jubi blowing up thing from his story 'Naruto the Elder Darkness'. Got permission for that.

* * *

(Unspecified Time)

Aimless.

That word was probably the best way to describe where he was now. In mind, his thoughts could only focus on reminiscence. The events that led to him being where he was in right now. A place he never thought was possible to explore in his lifetime. He wasn't a prophet who could see the future, so he never expected the outcome of the war to land him where he was at now.

The almighty Jubi, after returning to its true form, the Shinju began spreading its roots across their world, sapping back the gift it had unwillingly given to humans. The Jubi's programming, so to speak, was to absorb all traces of chakra that was birthed through its own forbidden fruit. At the time of its initial mission, it only had two targets: Kaguya and her son Hagoromo Ootsutsuki.

But now, it's lone eye set its sights on everything. Their world was littered with chakra and the Shinju simply did what it set out to do all those years ago. However, the Shinju never expected the abundance of chakra in the world, much less in the ones who were present in the war. The absorption of chakra from countless now-deceased shinobi adding to its own, swelled its seemingly bottomless container to the point of overflowing, backing up with power and exploding, taking the entirety of the doomed planet with it.

It was only thanks to his lifetime companion and the power of Nature that kept him the sole survivor. His partner using up all its remaining power and chakra to keep his nature-enhanced body somewhat intact and form an air bubble around his prone form that drifted aimlessly amidst the rubble of the destroyed planet. He was conscious but unable to move and his internal senses were unfocused.

Of course, a planet exploding is not something that other extraterrestrials would simply ignore. It took who knows how long, but eventually other life did find him. Unknowns were dangerous, so he did the only thing he could and that was to fight back. But drifting in the star ocean doesn't really let one recuperate properly, so he was barely able to put up a fight that would net him victory.

What he did manage was impress their boss with his fighting spirit, especially when even in his weakened state he managed to nick her cheek before falling unconscious with a smile on his face. They didn't even notice the small puff of smoke as a speck of dust managed to latch onto one of their number.

The next time he woke up was similar to the way he was at right now, drifting aimlessly inside a large capsule filled with a strange liquid as they experimented on him. Injecting him periodically with things they called Nanomachines. Those were just a few of the things he bothered to know about. He couldn't care less about the people on this base, there were only a few he kept an eye and ear on.

The first was the one he disliked the most, the boss and begrudgingly his savior named Nemesis. She was the very same person who started the experiments on him, calling him a rare Zero-Type Human from the Shinobi planet, a planet that someone named Gid dared not to attack due to their varied and arcane power.

The next was the benevolent Dr. Tearju Lunatique, another scientist but a lot more different than most. She was a kind person and would often talk to him whenever she checked up on him, she even taught him how to read and write the common language as dictated by the King of Deviluke, who doubles as the Emperor of the Milky Way Galaxy. She also did not limit herself with clinical talk and treated him as if he were family. This connection to Tearju eventually led him to meet her clone/little sister Eve.

She was a cheerful and playful child. The off times Nemesis let him out of his tank was when he was able to actually play with Eve, other times they would just talk with Naruto sharing stories about his adventures, giving her a semblance of what it is like to have a brother. He would have escaped during those times he was out, but having formed a connection to both Tearju and Eve, he couldn't risk escaping and having them in the crossfire.

The Zero-Type Human stirred awake from his reminiscence as he heard the sound of the automatic doors opening. Slightly cracking open his cerulean-blue eyes to lock his gaze to the form of a hooded figure. It was off hours so he wondered if this was some kind of intruder. "Naruto-kun..."

His eyes opened fully as he analyzed the voice, and the fact that it was his name and not 'Test Subject Number 1294', meant that it could only be one of two people and he knew Eve was not that tall. No matter how many times he insisted he be called by name, no one else other than his fellow blondes called him as such, which was why he only cared for the two of them. He was Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Yoko: Kurama, Genin of Konohagakure, Sage of Mt. Myoboku and the last Zero-Type Human/Shinobi by happenstance. What was once a great warrior was now a lab rat for the Transformation Weapons Project.

"Tear-chan?" Naruto asked surprised, using the nickname he gave her. "What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?" Tearju took off her hood to reveal long blonde hair with bangs framing her face. Behind her oval-shaped, thinly-rimmed glasses was a pair of emerald-green eyes. He wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to reading people, but he knew there was something that had Tearju distraught for some reason.

The woman who Naruto viewed as an older sister, walked up to his tank and placed her hand on the glass, silently asking for reassurance, knowing that Naruto's very presence had a calming and reassuring effect that just made you want to put your faith in him. "Tear-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked, mimicking the gesture by stopping his aimless drifting and placed his hand in the same location as Tearju's own.

Tearju felt a slight sense of warmth and relief when their hands touched despite the glass. Easing her worries even by just a little bit. It was already a breach in scientific conduct to get attached to an experiment, and she already broke that by being a sister to both Naruto and Eve. Even now as she stood before him, she just wanted to free him and run away with all three of them together. But knew that as they were right now, it was impossible.

Nemesis always kept Naruto at a weakened state, using a sedative reverse engineered from his blood and was in the very liquid that he was swimming in. When he was out of the tank, he would be injected with a dose and kept under the watchful eye of the guards. He couldn't even ask his partner Kurama for assistance, the fox being comatose ever since he saved Naruto's life after the explosion of their planet.

It took a few minutes of them remaining like that until Tearju finally spoke up. "I'm going to be removed from the Project..."

"Why? What's going on, Tear-chan?" Naruto asked getting over his initial shock to learn what is going on.

"I've been pushing away Eve-chan's training for too long, and the Organization has had enough." Tearju began as Naruto began connecting dots. A minute passed before Naruto widened his eyes at the realization. Nemesis made it no secret that he was to become a weapon, but now that he thought about it, Eve also had the transforming ability he had. And the few times Nemesis and Tearju were working together lately was filled to the brim with tension. "I... I am to leave the base by midnight."

"Bust me outta here, then! I'll tear them to shreds!" Naruto shouted with a murderous gleam in his eyes. It obviously did not sit well with him that they were going to make Eve into a cold, emotionless weapon, considering that was one of the possible paths he could have been set on in his home planet. He may be weakened in terms of his chakra, but their experiments on him was a double-edged sword.

Tearju shook her head and elaborated on her refusal to spring him out. "I can't... even with your transformation abilities, we won't be able to reach Eve and launch a ship in time before the guards sedate you." Naruto had to grit his teeth in anger, hating how powerless he was right now. Tearju wasn't a fighter, and Eve barely had a grasp at how combat works because of how her sister raised her. Even if he got both Eve and Tearju out by themselves, he knew Nemesis would send out her goons to retrieve them and they won't be able to raise a fuss. "Naruto-kun... Time's almost up... please protect Eve-chan for me..."

With a begrudging sigh, Naruto mustered up as much energy as he can to use his powers, pushing away the liquid around him using his chakra and temporarily dispersing the glass separating them with some of his Nanomachines. "You got a syringe or two on you?" Tearju looked up curiously at that, finding it fascinating he could still use his powers even to a limited degree. Checking her bag to find nothing, she then went to the cabinet and took some out. Handing it to Naruto, who immediately extracted some of his blood and some of the liquid he was pushing back. "I don't know how long it will take, but try and make an antibody for this sedative. They're gonna let me out someday and I wanna make sure that they can't use it against me in the future..."

"But-"

Naruto stopped her rebuttal by placing a finger on her lips, giving her a calm smile. "Don't worry. With what Nemesis has planned for me, I'm sure we'll see each other again. And next time, it'll be all three of us. This is goodbye but not farewell, Tear-chan." Naruto finished after whispering in her ear. Tearju returned the smile before pulling her hood up and taking her leave. Naruto watched her go as his tank sealed up and he was forced into unconsciousness from exerting his powers in his weakened state.

* * *

(Some time in the Future)

Time passed after Tearju's supposed abrupt disappearance, and Eve... or rather, Golden Darkness, as she preferred to be called now, threw herself in her training to become the perfect assassin. One reason being that she wanted to find her sister and make her explain things to her. Another was so that she would be able to make sure she could defend herself. The last one was related to her brother and that was to make enough credits to buy his freedom from Nemesis' Project.

Due to his defiant nature, Nemesis delayed his release until he was completely loyal to her. Like the sadistic and domineering woman she was, she ordered a mail-order brainwashing machine from a distant planet, knowing full well that Eve won't be able to reach the necessary amount in the two years she had left until it arrived under her orders. All parties involved knew Nemesis did that just to mess with them, but it was no less a grave situation.

Once again, Naruto was drifting aimlessly in his tank. The only thing he could do was make funny faces at the scientists monitoring his condition. The stiffs of course remained as clinical and unamused as he continued taunting them, stopping only when the sound of the automatic doors opening echoed in the relatively quiet room.

Naruto stopped his goofing when he and Eve met eyes. The thing about Transformation Weapons like them was that they can adjust what their body looks like, clothes and all. Despite being around twenty-something years old, Eve looked no older than twelve to fourteen. Having a preference to a child-like body, due to it being more 'comfortable' while in combat.

Unsurprisingly, she looked a lot like Tearju in terms of base appearance. She had equally long blonde hair, with two black hair-clips that made her look like a cat. Her eyes, rather than the emerald-green that Tearju had, was a very noticeable red pair. She wore a gothic black outfit with a cross-shaped opening in the middle of the chest, detached sleeves strapped to her arms via belts, a waist-cape that covers her back and open in the front to show her legs, each had five belts wrapped around them, and short black boots.

"Oh? This is kinda unexpected, but... it's good to finally see you again, Yami-chan." Naruto greeted with a two-fingered salute. He knew better than to call her by her old name, knowing how much the name brought up old memories and the betrayal she felt when her sister disappeared. But he also didn't like how long it took to say 'Golden Darkness' so he just opted to nickname her 'Yami'. "You barely come to see me anymore..." Naruto began as he adopted a fearful expression. "No... Please don't tell me... you found a new Onii-chan!?"

Yami rolled her eyes at his obviously fake expression of hurt on his face, but can't help the small smile making its way to her own. He always found time to joke around with her even when he was practically a prisoner. "Don't be silly, Onii-chan. I wanted to come by since I have some time off from my work." Yami said, oblivious that Naruto already knew what she was doing when she meant 'work'. Sadly, there was not much he can do about it. He was confined to where he was at, so the most he can do is talk to her about it.

"Then how are you holding up? You know... about 'that'." Yami was still quite hung up on Tearju's disappearance. There were times when he was out that he witnessed her vent her frustrations about it in her training.

"I'm doing fine, Onii-chan. You don't have to keep checking me on that subject." Yami defended.

"Just making sure... Anyways-" Naruto started before twitching slightly as something entered his memory banks. He clicked his teeth in annoyance, more so when the scientist monitoring his brainwaves announced a fluctuation. This was the probably only day where Nemesis wasn't in the base, but he didn't count on Yami being here today. He would admit, it threw him off a bit on his plans for escape but he would just have to adapt and improvise if necessary.

On cue, the alarms went off, signaling that there was an intruder inside the base. An announcement went off to tell security personnel to investigate the ship hangars. Yami herself stood in front of Naruto's tank to defend him just in case, he was in no condition to fight as he was right now. It went quiet for a few minutes as they waited for any more announcements, hearing only gunfire being shot in the hallway, slowly drawing closer before going silent again.

They then heard a faint ticking noise, counting five clicks before the door was blown open by an explosion. Yami molded a part of her hair into two blades, waiting for the intruder to come out of the smoke. She saw a figure walk around close to the floor and saw a black cat emerge from it, but kept her guard up.

"About time you got your ass here, Train." Yami turned at the clearer voice and saw Naruto partially out of his tank.

"Sorry about that... A black cat crossed my path and-" A voice within the smoke began.

"You and I both know you're full of shit, Train. Just get me outta here!" Naruto exclaimed after an obligatory eye roll.

"Fine. But next time call me 'Black' while on missions, Naruto." Black said as he emerged from the smoke. He was a young-looking male with dark-brown hair and yellow cat-like eyes, wearing a black cloak with a popped collar.

"Onii-chan! What is going on here?" Yami asked as she looked to the two confusedly.

"Sorry, Yami-chan." Was the last thing Yami heard as Naruto chopped the back of her neck to knock her out. Naruto receded back to his tank to conserve what little power he had, not wanting to pass out during his own rescue mission. Black rushed to the console and drained the liquid in the tank, Naruto shaking off all excess water and drying himself with the towel Black handed him. He formed some casual wear on his body and addressed Black again. "You got what I need?"

Black nodded and handed Naruto a full syringe and a round, black pill. He injected himself with the syringe first to apply the antibody that Tearju developed. He then got a glass of water and swallowed the pill and felt his chakra restore slowly. "The ingredients for that pill wasn't easy to find, y'know. I expect I'll be given proper compensation?"

"Do I look like I have any credits on me?"

"I guess that since you're my friend, I could let you pay me in installments..."

"Yeah, whatever." Naruto waved off as he headed to the console. Black handed him a plain flash drive, which he inserted and began downloading all the Organization's files. "Darkness Transformation..." Naruto read aloud, his gaze going to the corner of his eyes to look at Yami's unconscious form. Opening the file, he read the basic overview of the ability, his eyes slowly widening as he read on further. "Train, get Yami outta here. I'm gonna have to leave her to you..."

"What? I'm a hitman not a damn babysitter! And I told you to call me Black!"

"Yeah, yeah, stop trying to act cool." Naruto rebuked as he then looked seriously at the indignant Black who looked surprised at his serious demeanor. Not once in their time as friends did Naruto or to Black's experience, his clone looked so serious. "Besides, Yami is older than she looked. She can take care of herself."

"Doesn't this go against that whole not wanting to be separated thing?" Black questioned. Over the years, Naruto was relaying information about his status to his clone he created all those years ago. Giving it the order to sneak around the base and form a more durable clone with his blood that will then look for help. Eventually meeting Train and befriending him over the years as the original was in incarceration.

He then told Tearju that she was to find and give the antibody to Train so he could spring him out. The clone's last two orders were to scavenge the remnants of the Shinobi planet to find some ingredients for a Sakura-brand Soldier Pill, and to lead Train to the base where he was at when Nemesis wasn't around. As strong as the two were, Train wouldn't be able to fight off Nemesis while also protecting him as he recovered. The base would be destroyed, but they would still end up being captured.

"Yes. It does... but what I have read... I have to find a way to change that command... Yami-chan won't be able to enjoy true happiness as long as that command is still in her." Naruto said, hating that even he had to abandon Yami. But this was honestly the only way he could think of to keep her and the world around her safe. He would need to learn a lot just to even know the basics of Biotechnology, and he knew he won't be able to do it alone.

"Train, you got another one on you?" Black handed him a cat-shaped flash drive and copied the documents into it. After finishing the procedure, he transformed his hand into a giant iron fist and promptly smashed the computer until it was left as tiny bits and pieces. "Here, give this to Tear-chan, but make sure she and Yami-chan don't see each other when you do." Naruto tossed Black's flash drive back to him.

"You got it. Mail me your next address so I can send you my bill." Black said, tucking away his flash drive.

Naruto knelt down to the unconscious Yami to say his temporary goodbye. Black turning to the door to give them their privacy. "I'm sorry I had to leave you too. I know you can't hear me... but just know that I only want what's best for you... I'm sure Tear-chan would understand why I'm doing this, so I hope you do, too." Naruto continued as he placed his hand on his surrogate sister's cheek and brushed off some of her hair that covered her face. "I promise that I'll find a way to save you. So goodbye for now, Eve-chan."

He gave her a kiss on her forehead before picking her up and handing her body to Black, who carried her on his back. He then made a familiar cross-shaped hand seal and formed 18 clones. "Alright, five of you escort Train to his ship. The rest hijack one of the ships in the shipyard. I have some business to attend to." The clones dispersed to fulfill their orders, Black looking back one last time at the staggering Naruto before following his escorts.

Naruto panted to catch his breath. His chakra still being a little low from the atrophy and lack of training. There was only enough leftover materials from the Shinobi planet to create one Soldier Pill, so he would have to wait for his chakra to recover manually on its own.

Once he recovered enough, he extended his hair into very long locks and transformed them into various melee weapons. Breathing deep and gaining memories that their ship was ready, Naruto opened his eyes as he went on a rampage. Smashing computers, cutting wires, breaking tanks and canisters, crushing walls and blowing off doors, he had the ones shaped like hands to get some gasoline and matches and razed anything that was flammable. He made sure everything in this base was destroyed, and nothing could be salvageable, especially their collection of his DNA.

His rampage went on as he reached the hangar where his ship was waiting and some of his clones were outside waving him over. The ship they hijacked looked very streamlined, and was somewhat triangular in shape. It was in a mix of silver, white and blue colors and looked like it was more for transport rather than battle.

"Stop right there!" Naruto turned to see several of the security personnel, armed to the teeth in weapons and all of them aimed directly at him. "Step away from the hangar bay, Subject 1294, and we won't have to hurt you."

Naruto looked at them with a bored expression. Tilting his head up, he saw that above them was a glass roof, and an aside glance netted him the button to shut the blast door. "Stars are pretty today..." Like the idiots they were, they averted their eyes slightly to follow Naruto's gaze. The blonde then slammed his hand on the button simultaneously transforming his other arm to extend like a tentacle as well as forming into a spiky iron ball, breaking the glass and making the airspace drain of oxygen as the vacuum of space made the gathered guards explode. The blast door closing in time to return Naruto's hand and prevent the same from happening to him.

Turning around, he headed for his ship, reading an engraving on the outside told Naruto the ship's name. "...Calnus." He read aloud, boarding his ship without any further interruptions and headed to the deck. "So anyone here know how to fly one of these things?" He asked his clones as he sat on the Captain's chair.

"We've been reading this book on it for a few minutes before you arrived, Boss." One of the clones chimed in, holding a book named: 'Spaceship Piloting for Idiots'. Naruto motioned for his clone to continue. "I guess we know enough on how to take off, so we could probably give it a shot."

Naruto nodded in agreement as he faced forward. "Alright, man your stations and prepare for take-off! Mr. Uzumaki continue reading the manual, create and dispel a new clone every few minutes!" It may be counter-productive to his recovery to create more clones, but their escape was their first priority.

"Yes sir, Captain Uzumaki!" One of the clones saluted as it immersed itself on the manual.

"Good. Now, Mr. Uzumaki and Mr. Uzumaki, search the ship and find us some Ramen!" Naruto ordered to a pair of clones, who also gave him a salute and went off to fulfill their task. He was deathly hungry and he hasn't eaten his favorite food in a long time, the most he got while in the tank was some weird toothpaste that only tasted like Ramen. So he really hoped that the ships were stocked with some food.

Standing up, and looking at the map his clones brought up on the main screen, Naruto addressed his remaining clones. "All right, me hearties! Set sail for... um... this planet right here!" Naruto said as he used the laser pointer and pointed to a planet on the map, zooming in to see a predominantly blue planet that had some greens and white wisps and swirls around it. "Calnus! Full speed ahead!"

"Aye!" His clones chorused as they operated their stations, and heard the ship's engine rumble as it started its flight.

Destination: A New Home?

* * *

"Hey, Chi-chan~ are you even listening?" A pinkish-purple haired. teenage girl called out to her black haired, pony-tailed friend. The both of them were wearing what looked like school uniforms, the only difference being that the pinkette had some robotic rabbit ears on her head.

Chi-chan, or rather, Chifuyu Orimura ignored her companion in favor of continuing on her way home. Only addressing her when said companion got a little too impatient and grabbed Chifuyu's attention. "Tabane, how long are you going to keep going on about that? Aliens aren't real... that's just some crackpot's conspiracy... all those 'signs' are fake and staged."

Chifuyu sighed. This has slowly begun to develop into a daily occurrence every time they walked home together. Her friend, Tabane Shinonono was... in short, a bit on the eccentric side. In the past few days, she had been going on end about her rabbit ears picking up a strange signal. Tabane was a genius. Insufferably so, as Chifuyu and Tabane's sister, Houki could attest to. Chifuyu knew how good Tabane was when it came to Science, especially Robotics, her rabbit ears were proof of that.

"But Chi-chan~... I'm really serious!" Tabane exclaimed, twisting her body to avoid jostling a blonde stranger who exited a Ramen stand and walked the opposite way they were. "My ears are picking up something really big this time!" Chifuyu knew that Tabane was talking about her rabbit ears. Having built them with the purpose of giving Tabane a wider range to detect danger, basing the idea on the human mind's own innate sense. This would alert her to any and all hazards that come within its range.

"I'm sure it's nothing, Tabane. Now pick up the pace, we need to get to the library, we're losing daylight." Chifuyu said. She never did believe that that was the invention's purpose, thinking it was just her fondness for rabbits that Tabane made them. They were on their way to the public library to complete their assigned homework, the one in their school being closed due to repairs thanks to a small mishap in the next door chemistry lab.

Tabane still looked uncertain, but did her best to ignore the signals her ears kept picking up. The reason she was connecting the signals to possibly aliens, was partly because she recently saw a movie about invisible aliens and because she knew that there were barely any hazards she saw in her immediate vicinity. Just the regular humans who lived in or were passing through the area.

It didn't take long for them to reach the library now that Tabane wasn't fussing about aliens. Entering the library, they saw a young blonde man checking-out books at the counter and placing the scanned books in a cart. What struck them as odd about it was the fact that it was in a towering stack. While Chifuyu looked at the man strangely, Tabane instead focused her observation on what all the books were about. Every single one was a book on Sciences, some even having multiple copies.

Tabane then turned her attention to the blonde man. He did not even remotely look like a scientist, he wasn't even a student by the looks of it, so she couldn't help but wonder what a person like him, a person she deems as a mundane, would use a book on Space Travel, Robotics and Biotechnology for.

The two girls decided to mind their own business and finish their homework, but couldn't help sparing a glance as the blonde man happily thanked the exhausted librarian and wheeled his cart of books away. "Weird guy... Normally boys our age are more focused on girls and goofing off rather than studying." Chifuyu commented as she returned to her homework.

"Yeah..." Tabane agreed absently. Her rabbit ears oddly twitching in the blonde's direction. "Listen, Chi-chan, I gotta go... Houki-chan might need me to help her with her homework." Chifuyu nodded and let her friend go. Tabane was very fond of her sister, and it was generally a bad move to purposely keep Tabane away from spending time with her. "Thanks, Chi-chan~!"

Tabane packed up her things and ran out the library. Following where her ears were pointing to tail the mysterious blonde at a distance. She found it odd that the direction the blonde was heading in was to the nearby forest. Stopping right before the road turns into dirt, the blonde lifted the cart with surprising strength and headed deeper into the woods as he whistled a nameless tune. Tabane's senses were going haywire to not follow any further, but her curiosity overpowered her sense of foreboding and continued her tail.

She saw him stop in the middle of a large clearing and placed the cart down on the ground. He then pulled some cords out of his ears and formed a cross sign with his hands. The area was soon covered by a large puff of smoke, and as it dispersed, Tabane could only gape in a silent shock at what laid before her eyes.

The clearing was filled with multiple copies of the blonde, all looking the same. She then heard the one she assumed was the original give out orders. "Alright, grab a book and start reading. The faster we repair the Calnus, the faster we can study and find a way around 'Darkness'." The blonde then fished out something from his pocket and aimed at the direction across from where Tabane was at. The girl could only take so much surprises, slightly stepping back as to both her alarm and amazement, a vehicle that could only be described as a space ship became visible in the clearing.

She could only stare at the unintended revelation, taking a cautious step back and try to organize her thoughts. She then noticed the lead blonde twitched his head and turned to her direction. Tabane was unsure if he was actually looking at her or just the general direction. Deciding to leave before she was caught, Tabane took a few more steps back and spun on her heels to run off.

Unfortunately for both parties, in the deathly silent forest even the slightest of sounds would echo loudly. Tabane having stepped on a stray branch as she turned tail to leave. Turning her head to meet the equally shocked face or faces of the blonde and his copies, both parties muttering the only thing that would come to mind.

"Oh God."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

To continue where the preliminary note left off, I only did ask for the 'Jubi exploding' thing. My apologies to Senpai for using the Zero-Type Human, Transformation Weapon route and the like. But I couldn't just have the planet exploding and he drifts off to crash land on IS-Earth. I admit that would have been the initial idea, but this at least lets Naruto recover from the explosion without Area 51 being on his ass.

For those who feel confused about how he got out: During the first battle with Nemesis' retrieval team, he had a transformed clone latch onto one of her crew, knowing he had no hope of winning. As expected, the scientists would take several samples (him being an alien to them) of him. The clone would then use some of the extracted blood to form a Blood Clone (as much as I want to refrain from using too much Fanon, this has to happen), BC-Naruto would then transform and hitch a ride with someone who would go to a different planet, to find someone to help him. Meeting Train/Black, befriending him and then telling him his situation.

When Tearju left, Naruto whispered where she would find Black and the clone, she would then research a way to create an antibody for the sedatives Nemesis pumped into him. The clone and Black would then search planet Shinobi to find ingredients to make a soldier pill. During all this, Naruto would relay his information by creating and dispelling a Shadow Clone when he got the chance. The day Nemesis was out the base would be when his escape plan would start. Not wanting to waste time waiting for Yami and Black to finish a fight, Naruto had to knock her unconscious.

That moment was where I could have deviated a little. Had Yami not shown up that day, she and Naruto would have still been able to remain in contact with each other. Naruto would have still found out about 'Darkness', but so would Yami, who would then distance herself from him so she won't accidentally activate it. By having Naruto knock out Yami, it lessened the chance she would activate it until he found a solution, at the cost of Yami probably hating him for leaving her too. And you know how selfless Naruto can be, he sacrificed Yami's affection for him just so he can help her out in the long run.

Now, some may have already guessed it by reading the summary, Naruto accidentally showing his powers to Tabane is what would drive the latter to create the IS. This was intentional, so don't complain that it's impossible for a highly trained ninja to not even notice he was being tailed by a human. This is for plot reasons. Okay? That said, the specifics of this meeting (which looks a lot like S6 Finale of Dexter) will be revealed next chapter.

The Calnus is a reference to Star Ocean 4, specifically the first version. Cool ship is cool, 'nuff said. I probably won't delve too much into Space Exploration, though.

As is tradition in any IS Xover fic, Naruto's IS (of course he'll get one) will be based on some mecha from another series. I already decided what it is and what it can do, but it won't show up until a little later. Which is also the reason I have no cover image for this other than Gintoki's face, it will stay that way until his IS is actually revealed.

Now, here comes the turning point for any potential readers... this is a Double Xover with TWO Harem Series. And I know that you have seen enough to know where this is going... I'm gonna say it right now, that this will be quite a big one (Harem Plan, anyone?)... While I take Reviews and PMs into consideration, it doesn't really play a deciding role in what I write about, so if you don't like 'Mass Harem' either hit that back button or close the tab and just walk away (or surf away). If you want something different, why not write it yourself? Hell, I'll admit I got most of my writing ability by reading fanfics.

For a Final Note: I guess me and Senpai feel the same about the stream of unnecessary mass updates just to inform about SOPA. Some people in the Government must be some kind of Anti-Fun stiffs to even think about reviving the dumb law, go to the Whitehouse website and sign the petition. You'll save the things that make the Internet fun. do it. do It. Do IT. DO IT. DO IT!


	2. We Come in Peace

**We Come in Peace**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.**

* * *

It had been a few days since the Calnus had to make an emergency landing in the clearing Naruto brought the cart of books to. Due to the calming color of this planet on his ship's map, Naruto decided that this place would make a good home, likening the green to tree leaves and the blue to water. Once the ship left the hangar, Naruto decided to go to the remains of his home planet to pay his respects to the people he failed to protect.

However, normal space travel was simply unfavorable because of how far it was, meaning they had to make a Hyperspace jump for both his planet and his new home. Arriving at their destination, to see barely anything left besides a cluster of rocks, he was lucky his clone and Train even found the ingredients for the Soldier Pill. Paying his dues, he left with naught a look back, reasoning that his long-gone friends wouldn't want him brooding about it.

He was thankful that his clone was even able to read the section about Hyperspace jumps. It would have taken his journey a lot more time to accomplish without it. And it seemed like it would have been smooth sailing from there.

It wasn't.

He didn't know if it was compensation for finding the materials for the Soldier Pill. But after leaving the former planet's area, he was about to make the next jump to the new planet when a black hole began forming near his ship, slowly drawing him and his clone crew in. Feeling a sense of foreboding from the unknown phenomenon, Naruto hastily activated the Hyperspace jump to escape the black hole.

This would inevitably lead to where he was at right now.

It wasn't until he had to do the emergency landing that he would find out where he was. Or rather, 'when'. He found out that he did not escape the black hole, the jump in Hyperspace did send him to the Blue Planet, but at the cost of sending him ten years back. Normally this would have been an opportunity to change things, but the previous owner of the Calnus forgot to restock their fuel, stranding him on the planet known as Earth.

It was only thanks to the Calnus' emergency fusion core that he was still able to fly low, activate the cloaking and land quietly in the clearing, albeit with some part getting broken. After getting a lay of the land, Naruto decided to contact Train. He didn't know if he could use earthling fuel or materials on his ship, so he had to ask Train to deliver him some. The problem came when Train asked him how he was calling him on a phone while he was standing right next to the hitman. At least that explained why Train kept giving him weird looks for a day, and why his friend was easily convinced he was in captivity.

Almost as if he was meant to be flung back in time.

A few days passed after that, with Naruto living in his ship to learn about Spaceship piloting and observing earthlings go about their daily lives. He would have integrated himself into the society, but he needed to increase his own skill in forging documents or find a guy. He opted for the latter, creating another clone to assist him, but found something even better.

The food of the Gods.

With a little bit of sticky fingers, Naruto managed to get a few bowls of a treat he hadn't eaten in a long time. Leaving the shop to search for a library to borrow a few books on sciences he saw referenced in the Piloting manual, so he can repair his ship. Adding supplementary books for his main goal of saving Yami, in the mix. Returning to his camp so he and his clones can get started on his studies, Naruto created his clones and was about to head inside the ship to get some lighting, only for a peculiar set of memories to invade him.

It was from his earlier clone, the one sent to the other side of town to search for a guy who could forge an identity for him. The clone bearing witness to an earthling who saw him use his abilities and uncloak the ship. Making him turn in the direction she was at, widening his eyes when he heard the sound of a branch snapping under the weight of a step.

And so we have caught up.

* * *

Tabane and Naruto just stared at each other for a few minutes, neither of them saying a word, both unwilling to break the awkward silence that hung over their heads. Both parties, an alien to each other could only look on. Naruto hating how careless he was for being tailed. While Tabane, as much as an aspiring scientist she was, could not marvel at the discovery of seeing a true alien species. Her mind first processing what has happened and asking why her heart was beating faster.

It was a boringly simplistic answer in Tabane's head. She was feeling disbelief at the fact that an easily dismissible human was in actuality an extraterrestrial. Her ears could have written him off as some kind of well hidden psychopath, yet the discovery was so much more. She asked herself questions such as:

"_Is this real?"_

"_Why does it look human?"_

"_Are all extraterrestrials human-looking?"_

The questions of curiosity continued gnawing at her head. But what made her finally understand why her heart was beating so fast was the question: _"Who else are Aliens?"_ The fact that there was a human-shaped alien right in front of her actually made her scared. Who knows how many aliens there actually are in the world? Hiding right underneath the noses of the scientific community. Especially if they can take the shape of one of their own? The thought absolutely scared her and overwrote her scientific thoughts, when one question appeared in her mind.

"_What if Houki-chan was an Alien?"_

As an aspiring scientist, she had to make hypotheses every now and then. She was a teenaged girl in the 20th Century, she was no stranger to movies about other life-forms that the Entertainment Industry can cook up from their equally crazy brains. So what if there was an alien that came around and took the appearance of her sister? Her best friend? Her best friend's brother? Who's to say this man here was actually once a normal human who was eaten by an alien and had his appearance taken? The thoughts were beginning to frighten her at the prospect.

She watched the lead blonde walk up and stop at the edge of the clearing, a few meters apart from her, making her tense up as she waited for him to make a move. He heard him clear his throat before he spoke in a slightly unsure voice. "I... We come in Peace?"

Tabane booked it.

Naruto's jaw dropped as he watched the pinkette spin on her heels and made a mad dash away from him. "Hey, wait! Come back!" Naruto yelled as he told his clones to begin studying, running off to chase after Tabane. He was stranded on Earth with his secret out. True, he could probably take on whatever the earthlings throw at him, but he wanted this to be a new home for him. It simply wouldn't do if he were to become an international criminal. "Wait, I said!"

Catching up to Tabane was easy.

Catching her wasn't.

He was thankful that it was already dark outside, lessening the chance for any more witnesses to see him. It was as if she had a sixth sense in the fact that she kept dodging his transformed appendages and hair as they made attempts to grab her. She also had some amazing free running skills by the looks of it. Vaulting over objects that happen to get in her way or spryly climbing a wire fence. He didn't want to resort to this, but he had to make sure that the girl keeps quiet about him.

He had his hair form into sharp needles akin to Senbon, and fired them at her with the intent to trap her into walking into a transformed hand to catch her. Of course, he had to cheat a little bit by adding a safety should that not work.

If anything, Tabane seemed to speed up her running, as if she knew what he was planning. Deciding to be the trickster that he was, Naruto gave up on chasing her and had his hair slingshot him forward to cut her off. Touching down in front of her, he shot one last salvo of his hair needles at her. Tabane easily catching one that came very close and returning it with a skillful throw. A puff of smoke then erupted next to Tabane, but before she could react to what it was, she was chopped in the back of her neck, knocking her out.

Naruto breathed out a relieved sigh at finally ending their little chase. He knelt down and picked up Tabane, carrying her in his arms as he turned to find a suitable place to talk to her properly. He couldn't just leave her in the middle of the road, and he knew she won't simply write it off as a dream. Nobody just wakes up in the dead of night sprawled out on the street with a dream of being chased by a transforming alien.

He had his hair slingshot him towards the forest, intent on conserving his chakra. Because this world wasn't his own, the air was not saturated with chakra, making it take a little longer for it to replenish within him. Arriving back at his camp, he entered the Calnus and laid Tabane down on a couch on the lounge. Not wanting her to run off or break anything the moment she wakes, Naruto tied her to the chair with some spare rope he found in the ship.

He tied her up firmly, but not too tight for the situation to be misunderstood. Not wasting anytime, he smacked her face lightly to wake her up. "Oi, Nee-san, wake up already..."

"Mmm... five more minutes... Houki-chan~..." She mumbled. Tabane surprisingly turning to sleep on her side. Naruto sighed and went off to find something more effective in waking a person. Returning shortly with a bottle of water, he doused his hands a bit before flicking the droplets in Tabane's face. Putting away his bottle and drying his hands when he saw her stir. Tabane's eyes cracked open her own pinkish-purple ones in the same shade as her hair, locking with the cerulean blue of the alien in front of her.

"Welcome back to the land of consciousness, Nee-san." Naruto began with a friendly smile. Tabane blinked a few times then looked down to see her lying, bound body. Coming to a possible conclusion, she did what most would do in this situation.

"KYAAAAAAA!"

Naruto jumped back with a confused expression on his face. He made sure that his smile wasn't weird or anything, so he didn't know what garnered such a reaction. The girl wiggled in her binds as she told him that someone named Chi-chan would hurt him if he did anything funny. She was oddly specific when it came to something about putting probes in her butt. _"Is there actually a species out there that does that?"_ Naruto idly thought. He was damn sure he didn't want aliens probing his butt.

"...And then Chi-chan's gonna stick her Shinai in YOUR butt, and then..." Tabane's threats of uncomfortable torture came to a halt when Naruto tossed some chewy candy into her mouth. The girl unsurprisingly gagged in surprise but started chewing it once she tasted the sweetness.

"Finally calmed down? Can we actually start talking now?"

"..." Tabane glared at him a little, but it was more cute rather than threatening. A few minutes passed as the two stared the other down. Tabane breaking the silence when she gave up her glaring and spoke up. "Give me another one."

Naruto blinked before picking up the jar containing the sweets and tossing another piece of candy, which Tabane caught in her mouth and started chewing happily. After her little snack, Tabane gave Naruto a nod to show she was ready to start talking to him. While she was still slightly fearful, she was also giddy with excitement at the prospect of talking to an alien. Naruto walked closer to her and transformed his hand into a kunai, making Tabane flinch before she felt herself being cut loose from her bindings.

Naruto retreated and took a seat on one of the armchairs, watching Tabane grab the jar of candy and helping herself. "First off, how and why did you follow me?"

Tabane rubbed her sore, formerly-bound wrists before pointing at the rabbit ears on her head. "My rabbit ears can detect danger from super-far away! That's how I was able to avoid your attacks Alien-san!"

"Naruto."

"What about a fishcake?" Tabane asked with a confused tilt of her head.

"That's my name, Naruto. And it means Maelstrom, not fishcake." Tabane nodded. With a name like that, it was understandable why he would prefer the more awesome sounding one. "And no adding '-san', either. I don't really like formalities unless necessary... Now how about answering the 'why'?"

"Same thing. I guess it finds you dangerous since you're an alien. Think of a planetary level stranger danger." Tabane beamed, puffing her chest in pride at her useful invention. "My turn now... What are you doing here in Earth?"

"Simple, I'm making it my new home." Naruto responded. Cutting Tabane loose was to both show that he was willing to listen to her answer, as well as show that she wasn't being interrogated and that the questioning is for both of them to understand each other. "I came from a planet very far away from this one. In our planet there were two types of people, the normal ones we call Humans. While the ones who can do this..." Naruto paused as he and his transformed hair created a spinning blue ball of energy on his palmtop, with Tabane looking on in amazement. "Are called Shinobi, or to outsiders... Zero-Type Humans." Naruto dispelled his Rasengan, making Tabane return her focus to him. "Let's just say that shit happened and my planet blew up."

Tabane noticed the slightly forlorn look on his face, telling her that it was more than likely a real event. Seeing as she wasn't going to interrupt, Naruto continued, thankful that Tabane wouldn't pry into it any further. "I don't know how long it was, but eventually other lifeforms found me. Kept me in captivity and performed experiments on me that gave me this ability..." Naruto then showed her his transformation abilities by shifting his hair and other appendages into various objects, with one last example being to transform into a younger child version of himself.

"Aww... that's so cute!" Tabane cooed as she smothered the child Naruto suddenly.

"Oi, Nee-san get off me! I'm not done yet!" Naruto called out from under the girl's smothering grip. If anything, calling her 'Nee-san' in that voice just made her grip tighter. A minute passed until Tabane finally released him and he returned back into his teenaged body. "Now that we got that out of the way..." Naruto continued his explanation, giving a brief summation of how he escaped captivity with Train's help. Finishing it off with the black hole swallowing him up as he had the ship jump into Hyperspace. "Trust me, I have no intent on hurting anyone. I just want to fix my ship, park it somewhere else and enjoy the rest of my life."

Tabane nodded in understanding. Him being an alien meant that in the off chance his identity was exposed, he would want to keep a way to leave the planet. "Then what about the books on the sciences? What are those for?"

Naruto debated whether or not he should tell her. While they did just meet today, she was proven to be quite the genius. And he was going to need smart people to help him in solving Yami's problem. "It's... It's for someone important to me. Perhaps you could call her my counterpart, she has the same transformation abilities as me, and we're the only two of our kind." He couldn't really limit himself as strictly a Zero-Type Human anymore. It was a point Tearju told him about that he and Yami were the only two who had the transformation ability they had.

Tabane knew that there was a deeper meaning to why he told her something that important. Naruto was trusting her with keeping him a secret. Not entirely impossible, but it would definitely take time for her to trust him. Though there was still something bugging her, and that was the fact that Naruto seemed oddly confident that no one was going to pursue him, despite having just thrashed and destroyed a shady laboratory. It made Tabane worry a little at the prospect of Earth coming under Alien attack. Although it was mainly concern for her friends and sister's safety, than everybody else.

Tabane nodded again to show that she understood what he was trying to do. "It shouldn't take long for me to know how to repair the Calnus. Once I fix it, I can focus on integrating myself into this town then get some of the essentials and continue my research." The moment Naruto finished his sentence, he felt his hand get pulled away by an energetic Tabane.

"How about showing me the engine, then?" Tabane requested.

"Why would I do that? I trust you only to keep me a secret, I'm pretty sure showing you Alien technology is not one of the things we settled on."

"Yeah, I know! But I'm a genius, so maybe I can help fix it!" Tabane chirped happily. She did want to see some technology, but mostly so she could study it. From an Academic standpoint, Space Exploration was one of the many things scientists keep working tirelessly on. Tabane was no different, but she also wants to find a way for earthlings to actually stand a chance against extraterrestrials, should some show hostility. "Besides, you're very nice for the first alien I've ever met. And just because you know how to do something, doesn't mean you can't make mistakes!"

The last part reminded Naruto a little bit about how a Sharingan was supposed to be used. There was a difference between copying and actually mastering the technique. Knowing how to do something and being able to actually do it run on similar principles as that. Add to the fact that Naruto was thinking of asking Tabane to help him crack the code for 'Darkness', and you have the blonde shinobi give a sigh of resignation. "Fine. But on one condition..." Naruto started as he wrenched his arm out of Tabane's grip.

"Really? What is it!?" Tabane asked excitedly. Naruto was technically holding all the cards, he could have easily wiped her memories or killed her. She may be able to put up a fight, but also knew that she would lose. Instead he chose to trust her with sensitive information about both himself and the life beyond space. It made her more curious about him as a person, than the fact that he was an alien.

He grinned. "Be my friend."

* * *

_Knock! Knock!_

"I'll be right there!" A gruff, male-sounding voice called out. The doorways' lights casting a shadow from behind the curtain to show that somebody was about to open the door. "Yes? Ah, Tabane? It's about time you got home, young lady!"

"Ehehe... sorry, Dad. Kinda got sidetracked." The familiar form of Tabane said to her father, Ryuuin Shinonono.

"You nearly missed dinner, young lady. What could possibly be so important that you would take all this time to get back? I had to call Chifuyu to see if you were staying over there-" Ryuuin both scolded and asked, he then took notice of his daughter's appearance. She was fine for the most part, barring a few patches of dirt and some holes in her uniform, but nothing too serious. What did grab his attention was his daughter's posture, and the fact that she had a pair of legs between her arms on the side. "Tabane, who is that?"

Tabane set down the child she was carrying on her back, with a strange look of relief. The child was a young blonde boy with blue eyes and a strange set of whisker marks on his cheeks. He was wearing slightly baggy and ragged clothes and looked slightly fearful. "Meet my new friend, Naru-kun! Go on, say hi to my dad!"

"Hello, sir." Naruto waved shyly as he partially hid behind Tabane's surprisingly soft rear. Though inwardly, he was grinding his teeth at Tabane's crazy idea. One way she thought about to solve his suspicious comings and goings was to have him in his child form, since no one would suspect a child of anything other than some mischief. But he knew Tabane did it because he was just that damn cute as a kid.

"He's an orphaned kid I found in the park, I couldn't just ignore him." Tabane whispered to her father. To add some more to the story, she unknowingly created an elaborate back story that oddly mirrored his own, with a few key points changed. By having him live with the Shinonono family, Tabane could stick close and help with his studies and fixing the Calnus, while simultaneously integrating him in the populace.

Tabane didn't bother hiding her intent on studying the technology on the Calnus, reasoning to Naruto that she wanted to ensure there was a way for humans to combat hostile alien lifeforms. Naruto agreed on the condition that it would be the work of the two of them together, once he was up to speed on the sciences. "He has nowhere to go, Dad. Can he please stay with us?" Tabane requested.

Ryuuin gave a small sigh, his heart going out for the blonde kid. But he knew that they were already pushing it with Tabane, Houki and himself. His late wife was mostly the one who brought home the big bucks. His income running a Kendo dojo was only enough to support the three of them. Explaining those very thoughts to Tabane, who started looking downcast with Naruto to play along with their ruse. Ryuuin had a sad look at the rejection but an idea popped in his head that could work. "Hmm... What if I asked Ringo if she could take him in?"

Tabane brightened up at that. The Yuuki family wasn't exactly high on her 'interesting-person's list', but they were a close friend of their father, and lived in the same city. While it was far from the best, it would have to do. What mattered was that Tabane and Naruto are able to see each other for their collaborations. "That would be fine, Dad."

"Alright. I'll call her and see if she's up to it. Meanwhile, you two go help yourselves to some dinner, I made extra in case you came home hungry, Tabane." Ryuuin finished as he let the two youngsters inside the house. He went off to the phone to call up his friend, while Tabane and Naruto headed to the dining room.

Arriving at the dining room, Naruto was greeted to the sight of a girl with long, black hair eating at the table. His cerulean-blue eyes catching her own dark blue pair, lightly staring at him. "Houki-chan~!" Tabane cried out as she ran up and hugged the living daylights out of the girl, who was obviously Tabane's younger sister. "Houki-chan, come on. I want you to meet my new friend!" Houki was unceremoniously pulled off her chair and was pushed close to Naruto.

"Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Tabane-nee-chan's friend! Nice to meet'cha!" Naruto introduced with a warm smile, easing the tension Houki was feeling for suddenly meeting someone new.

"H-Houki Shinonono... Nice to meet you, too." Houki reciprocated with a small smile as Tabane just gushed at how cute they were being. With Houki looking embarrassed, and Naruto glaring lightly at Tabane, who was undoubtedly enjoying this. The three sat down on the table and began helping themselves, while Houki continued her own eating. "Naruto-san..." Houki began but Naruto told her to not use the formal suffix for him and either not use one or use '-kun' instead. "Naruto-kun... How did you meet my Onee-san?"

Naruto responded by giving her an altered version of how he and Tabane did meet. Saying that the dirt and holes in Tabane's clothes was due to playing in the park with some getting caught in some bushes. He shared a little bit about himself like his likes, dislikes and hobbies, knowing he will be seeing a lot of Houki if he was going to work with Tabane. Returning the gesture, Houki herself shared some things about her, while Tabane just looked on between them with an inward smirk.

Ryuuin came in after a few minutes and took his seat at the table. He let the kids finish their conversation first, watching on with an amused grin at seeing Houki make some new friends. Due to being on the more masculine side in terms of attitude, Houki had little to no friends barring Ichika Orimura, the younger brother of Chifuyu. Once the current conversation was over, Naruto and Tabane turned to Ryuuin to hear what Ringo had to say. Houki listening in, having gotten the gist of what was going to happen to Naruto.

"They said they want to meet you first." Ryuuin stated, looking at Naruto directly. "Today was only the orientation day for the new school year, so they will come around in a few days after they return from their vacation. Until then..." He then turned to address his daughter. "Houki, do you mind if he sleeps in your room until they arrive?"

"N-Not really... I mean..." Houki stammered with a blush. She was sure young boys and girls were not supposed to sleep in the same room together.

Naruto noticed that Houki looked slightly uncomfortable and pitched in an alternative. "It's alright, sir. I can just sleep on the couch."

"We don't have one of those here. Keeps the authentic look of the shrine, y'know?" Ryuuin countered, slightly smirking, though it was admirable that he thought about how Houki would feel about it. "Besides, Houki already said she doesn't mind. But if it really bugs you, then Tabane can stay in there with you two."

"Yay! Sleepover at Houki-chan's room~!" Tabane beamed as she rushed off to transfer her futon to Houki's room.

"B-But..." The two kids started together. But the man just waved off their concerns with a hearty chuckle, making the two children sigh in defeat together. "Fine."

After cleaning up the table and the dishes, the occupants of the house got cleaned up and headed to their rooms for a good night's sleep. Naruto and Houki sleeping soundly on opposite sides of Tabane, who was out like a light in between them and had both in a cuddle as she slept, not minding that Naruto was in fact roughly ten years older than her.

And thus his real first night on Earth came to pass.

* * *

The days flew by eventfully as Naruto and Tabane continued their weird tutoring relationship. When he wasn't studying with Tabane, he spent his time playing with Houki. Staying with them for the first few days would eventually culminate in him meeting the sole two members of the Orimura family, Chifuyu and Ichika.

At first, Chifuyu was curious and wary of him, linking his appearance to the mysterious blonde from the library. She knew Tabane wasn't exactly the easiest person to get along with if your name didn't have Shinonono or Orimura in it. It was only after a year later, when Tabane took her aside and filled her in, did Chifuyu gain some light about him and what he was. While he wasn't as close to her as Tabane, him and Chifuyu have developed a bond of friendship.

Ichika on the other hand, was just like any kid his age, albeit a little on the snarky side like his sister. It was easier to get along with him and Houki, since they were unaware that he was actually a decade older than their sisters. Meeting Ichika also paved way to making new friends in the red head Gotanda siblings, Dan and Ran. The two redheads were the children of the owners of the Gotanda Eatery, a local diner in the city. It was good for both him and Houki who was able to easily befriend Ran, thanks to a little coaxing from the boys. It was after meeting these two that Naruto realized that Ichika was as dense as a brick. Not even realizing that Ran and Houki were crushing on him, but Naruto just ignored it for now since they were still children.

Eventually, his stay in the Shinonono household came to an end as his would-be foster parents finally arrived to meet him. Ringo and Saibai Yuuki was an odd pair that somehow worked well together, they were a fashion designer and a Manga author respectively. The two parents easily taking a shine to him and happily adopted him, letting him keep his surname when he requested. Ringo and Saibai found him to be a surprising source of inspiration for their respective line of work. He also met his siblings for his second childhood, courtesy of Tabane, the clumsy Rito and the young Mikan.

His life in the following years continued on like that, with mutual study sessions with Tabane, hanging out with Houki and his other friends and interacting with his new family. All the while not losing focus of his true goal in saving Yami. Around the end of the year, he gained enough practical knowledge in engineering to repair the Calnus to a degree, and assisting Tabane in her first invention for Space Exploration and Defense, the Infinite Stratos or IS.

However, during its debut to the scientific community, the IS was not well received. Stating that the current method for Space Exploration was sufficient enough, without the need to replace the still functional model with a prototype made by a child genius. Naturally, Tabane was disheartened by the rejection of her proposal. She was already too close as friends to Naruto to suddenly expose his identity as an alien, so she had no way of getting her project reconsidered in the near future.

Instead, she threw herself into improving the suit further in hopes that it would at least fulfill its hidden purpose of protecting the Human race from hostile aliens. Naruto helping her every step of the way, being both an Engineer/Developer and a Test Pilot for the slowly developing machine.

Right now, after 4 years of working on it, the three older teens consisting of Tabane, Chifuyu and Naruto were in the Calnus' R&D room. Having repaired and upgraded the ship into something bigger than the basic cruiser-type ship it used to be. Tabane was in front of several Holo-screens, her fingers rapidly typing in layers and layers of code as her tired eyes darted from different screens, while Naruto and Chifuyu next to her watched over a large spherical object. Pushing one last button, her eyes lit up in triumph at seeing the words 'Complete 100%' on the main screen. "Yahoo! It's finally done!"

"So this makes it the Official 467th IS Core we made." Naruto whistled as he pulled Tabane away and beckoned Chifuyu to help him in transferring the core to the same room the others were at in the Calnus' mountainside hangar bay. While he can carry it by himself, he didn't want her to just stand around and watch because she was the designated pilot for IS-002.

"I can go for another-" Tabane began, but was flicked in the forehead by the blonde alien.

"No you won't. We've been working endlessly on this in the past few years, besides it's almost the peak of the Holidays... Don't you want to spend that remaining time with your family?" Naruto stated. Having learned about the festivities Earthlings had annually, thanks to his foster family. He saw Tabane put on another of her cute pouts before ignoring her. Returning to carrying the core, he saw Chifuyu shaking her head at him. "What?"

"Only you, Uzumaki."

"I told you to call me Naruto, Chi-chan!"

"And I told you to not call me by that nickname, Uzumaki." Naruto just sighed at Chifuyu's counter. She was always too formal with him, and it constantly got on his nerves knowing that this time she was doing it on purpose again, and enjoying every second of it. That smirk she was sporting was proof of that.

"Chi-chan, stop being mean to Naru-kun~!" Tabane said with a pout as she walked alongside them.

"Oh? Isn't this kinda fast for the Master-Student Romance to already start blooming?" Chifuyu retorted with a smirk before she felt herself get slugged in the face. Composing herself, she then glared at the retreating form of Naruto's transformed hair, the boy himself innocently whistling as if he didn't do anything. "On another matter..." She began as the group entered the Core Storage Room. "Are you seriously planning on doing this, Tabane?"

"Of course~!" Tabane answered without even the slightest hints of hesitation. "Helping Naru-kun is something I want to do! Besides, it's not like I won't be able to come visit. I'm a genius, y'know?" Tabane said with pride. Naruto looking a little solemn at the girl's decision to help him. He didn't want to separate family from each other, but once Tabane set her mind on something, it was hard to dissuade her from seeing it through to the end. "But still, I wish I could have made Core No.468 before the time came. It could have been used for Houki-chan's unit..."

"It's not like you won't be able to work on it in your spare time." Naruto told her. Laying down the last IS Core in the Hangar's storage room. Heading for the exit, Naruto saw one of his maintenance clones running up to him. Raising a curious eyebrow, he asked. "Something happen, Mr. Uzumaki?"

"Boss, the World Government is here."

"Figures... They wouldn't even wait until after the end of the Year..." Naruto scoffed with a bit of disdain. The World Government, after having seen the IS' performance in the 'White Knight' incident, enacted the 'Alaska Treaty' a few months ago. A treaty that states that no IS is to be used for warfare and that all existing IS technology was to be distributed to all Nations, to prevent any of them from dominating any others. Tracing back the communications link from that time to the hangar to actually seize the revolutionary technology.

The incident itself was concocted by the three of them. Tabane would hack the multiple military bases across the globe to launch all of their missiles at Japan. The only problem was that a small war broke out in the Middle East, a terrorist organization native to Kurdistan fighting off the military in the nation of Iran. Naruto was initially going to be the one to intercept the missiles in his IS, but instead he sortied out to quell the war. This left Chifuyu who would have been unable to sortie out with her Kurazakura, since it was part of their tactical forecast.

They knew that with the second debut of the IS as a powerful armed machine, the World would want some way to regulate the technology or recreate it themselves. It would then diverge into two paths with blurred lines between them. One would be the IS being used for warfare, if the world's response was to use the invention for military use, Naruto would be there as an outside party to destroy them via an armed intervention. He would destroy any participating IS, and confiscate the core permanently.

The other path would be using it for its intended purpose, and the one Tabane was 83% certain they would take. It would be used for Sport or Space Exploration, in which Chifuyu would claim the title of the best IS pilot, and her connection to Tabane would give her ground in the scientific community. It helped that she knew more than what was left behind in the notes for the suits to find. They knew that even with this route, the Shadows within every Government would still try to develop the IS as a military weapon, so Naruto would then be Chifuyu's Shadow to take down those who were careless enough to misstep their boundaries.

The solution to continue their plot was having Tabane re-calibrate her IS, the White Rabbit, and have Chifuyu carry out the plan. Re-christening it to the White Knight as Chifuyu gave the stellar performance of taking down over 2000 missiles all headed for Japan. What they didn't expect was how fast the World Government formed a response team to capture or destroy the White Knight. Chifuyu taking down half of the offending force, with Naruto arriving in his unit to take down the rest. Not one of the personnel in the retrieval team being killed in the fight.

"You sure you don't want to take it back?" Chifuyu asked to her best friend as they walked towards the Calnus. Tabane happily shaking her head in the negative. It was fine if she didn't have her personal IS with her, she could easily make a new one in her time hiding since all the necessary components were in the Calnus.

"Nope! You can keep it in case Ikkun becomes compatible~!" tabane chirped whimsically as she stood at the foot of the stairs leading to the Calnus' interior. Naruto put his hands in a familiar cross hand seal and created several Shadow Clones.

"Alright, half of you prepare for launch, the other half open the exit." Naruto ordered. He then bit his thumb and let some of his blood leak out and made another set of hand seals to form a Blood Clone. "You'll be acting as Captain for this trip, one of your duties is to recreate any crew clones when they pop." BC-Naruto accepted his orders and headed inside the ship. Naruto turning to his friend and tutor in the past 4 years. "Well... it will be a long time till we see each other again."

"Yeah..." Tabane responded with a little fidgeting as Chifuyu rolled her eyes.

Naruto then held out his hand for her to shake. "I never said this before, but thanks for helping me. With learning the Sciences, meeting new friends, gaining a new family and home, and for doing this." Naruto used his other hand to rub the back of his head sheepishly as Tabane didn't seem like she would be shaking his hand anytime soon. "I owe you a lot. And I might have had a harder time learning all this technological know-how if I didn't meet you. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much Tabane Shino-!" Naruto's heartfelt thanks was cut short as Tabane suddenly smashed her lips with his for a brief instant before running off inside the ship.

Chifuyu snickered a little and elbowed Naruto's petrified-from-shock form. "Well, aren't you a lucky guy?" Naruto stood unmoving as he processed what just happened. His body stood stock still, while his eyes followed the Calnus as it began exiting the runway and activating the cloaking. "Hey, come on... snap out of it already..." Chifuyu waved her hand in front of his face and snapped her fingers a bit to wake him from his daze. "Come on, Uzumaki. It's just a kiss, get over it."

"But it was the first one I got 'from' a girl!" Naruto said in response after snapping out of his daze. Not even Yami got that far, Naruto was the one to kiss her, and that was on the forehead after they had to part ways. This being the first time a girl gave it to him and on the lips rather than a cheek or the forehead.

Chifuyu had an ominous smirk on her face as she picked up a nearly unnoticeable emphasis on the word 'from'. "You said 'from' a girl... does that mean you-"

"No. Shut up. We're not talking about this anymore." Naruto said looking a little green. If anything, Chifuyu's smirk actually got a little more triumphant, as if that denial proved her theory. "Let's just get outta here..."

Naruto had his clones do a final once-over of the hangar to make sure nothing can be traced back to him and Chifuyu, with orders to dispel the moment they find their assigned area clean. Gaining the memories from the clones, Naruto gave Chifuyu a nod and activated their personal IS'. Chifuyu being wrapped in a bright, white light as the armor of her temporary IS, White Knight materialized on her person. Naruto was wrapped in a green colored light, and without wasting a breath, the two friends disappeared in a sonic boom just in time for the mixed military to start storming the hangar.

Never to be seen in a long time.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Gotta admit, this chapter was kinda hard to finish. I recently keep finding myself just lazing about, especially after a hard day of work. And my Idea Engine has been going both rampant and clogged at the worst moments. So I apologize if the chapter seems rushed. I just really wanted to finish the prologue.

Another problem being that I had to debate with myself if I should bother showing the 'White Knight Incident'. When I did, it looked horribly boring since it was just a bunch of missiles and dogfights in the air, sinking ships and the fact that Naruto's IS debuting too early.

Also, since this is partially Sci-fi, don't think too hardly on my Space-Time travel explanation. In easier terms, Naruto getting sucked into the black hole was meant to create a stable loop of sorts. This is also so the ages can keep consistent.

Shinai is the Bamboo Practice Sword for Kendo.

Next chapter will include another time-skip to the present day, since that's mostly what you're here for, right? It will most likely cover the beginning of IS and To Love-Ru's story, and if I can fit it in, the fight with Cecilia.

Naruto's harem: Yami, Tabane. The rest will be a secret for now.

Bye!


	3. A Different Kind of Alien

**A Different Kind of Alien**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.**

* * *

"I'm heading out!"

A youthful blue-eyed, whiskered, blonde called out as he made his way out the door. He was dressed in a neatly pressed uniform consisting of a white dress shirt underneath a yellow blazer and had a neat green tie around his neck. He wore green pants and a pair of dress shoes for his lower half. This was Naruto Uzumaki, back in his preferred teenaged body after 10 full years of pretending like a normal, growing child in the Yuuki household. In actuality, he was a Zero-Type Human who was really well around his thirties, having been sucked into a black hole after he escaped captivity from the Transformation Weapons Project.

"Have a safe trip, Onii-chan!" Came the reply from a young brown-haired girl with golden-brown eyes. Her hair was long and had a small, spiky ponytail at the top. This was Mikan Yuuki, his dependable and mature-for-her-age foster sister. A young and growing 12 year old girl that had a strange attraction to him, despite being siblings in all but blood. Mikan walked out of the kitchen to see her brother off, only to find something amiss. "Onii-chan, you're not in the IS Academy Uniform?"

Naruto put on a mischievous grin as he answered. "I wanna see to what length Chifuyu-nee would go to 'protect' me." On his way to the High School Entrance Exams a few months back, Naruto was able to save a construction worker who fell from an in-progress skyscraper, using his IS to catch the guy before he became a smear on the ground. Due to the sudden instance, he had no time to adopt his 'Naruko' persona with his Sexy Jutsu. And because it was in broad daylight, he couldn't use the 'Mirage' ability to cloak his IS' appearance. Naturally, the media flooded the news reports with the revelation of the first Male IS Pilot.

The IS after its second debut was revealed to be only usable by women, causing a shift in power balance, going so far as to say a war between men and women wouldn't even last three days. Using Clone-Memory Relay to get in contact with Tabane, only to find that even she didn't know why it was only usable by women. The only thing he could remember being remotely interesting that day was Ichika being washed away by a sea of reporters as they scoured the campus in search of Naruto.

To 'protect' him from outside parties, Chifuyu immediately enrolled him in IS Academy. A training school for those who want to learn to pilot an IS effectively. Under the 'Alaska Treaty', Tabane being Japanese and the other countries still having their weapons meant that Japan was forced to comply in building and funding the Academy. Since the Academy was neutral ground, no one would be able to say... dissect him and find out how a male was able to pilot the IS. Not that he'll let them.

"But, Onii-chan... you'll be late if you don't head over there..."

"Oh? Does my sweet Mikan-chan really want me to go to the Boarding School known as IS Academy?" Naruto stated with a knowing smirk as Mikan fidgeted a little. "You know that the place is filled with girls... I may not be able to control myself-"

Naruto's teasing was cut short when Mikan bopped him on the head with a ladle. "Stop being so silly, Onii-chan~." Mikan scolded halfheartedly with a light smile. She was quite perceptive, so she knew that her brother's perverted tendencies was only an act, and he always made sure he never went too far. Unlike her biological brother, who gets too nervous to properly apologize whenever he landed face first between a girl's legs, making them think he was doing it on purpose. "...Just visit sometimes okay? Like on the weekends...?" Mikan requested. She was quite attached to her brothers since they spend the most time together, Saibai doing his Mangaka work in an extra apartment and Ringo having her work overseas more often than at the homeland.

"Anything for my Mika-chan." Naruto promised warmly. The only reason he was going to Sainan High was so he could help Rito and see his friends one last time before Chifuyu inevitably drags him to IS Academy. "Oi, Rito! Get a move on will ya! You're going to miss walking with Haruna if you don't haul ass!" Footsteps echoed in the second floor as a young male with spiky, orange-brown hair and golden-brown eyes rushed downstairs. The young man tripped in his rush and landed face first on the floor in front of Naruto. "You're lucky I'm not Yui, if I was I would have kicked your face in."

"You shouldn't have used Haruna-chan to bait me, Naruto-nii." The boy said as he was helped up by Naruto's outstretched arm. This was Rito Yuuki, his foster brother and most likely the clumsiest guy he ever met. He had the uncanny ability to always land in a compromising position when he trips in front of girls, putting him second in Yui Kotegawa's proverbial 'list'. Rito saw Naruto grin mischievously and realized he did it on purpose.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't have been fun if I didn't do it that way. How about I help you get with Haruna to make up for it?"

"Really!? You'd do that for me?" Rito asked with stars in his eyes, having crushed on Haruna Sairenji for nearly his whole early teenaged life.

"Sure thing. Today will probably be the only day I attend Sainan High in a long time, so I might as well help you out." Naruto explained as Rito cheered in excitement. Naruto opened the door and turned to Mikan before he and Rito left. "We're heading off for real this time, Mika-chan. Make sure you lock up properly, 'kay?"

Mikan nodded and relished in the last hug she'll get in a long time. "Have a safe trip, Onii-chan. And have a good day, Rito!"

The two boys headed out the door as Mikan closed it behind them. The two walking up the street side by side as Rito asked. "So what's the plan, Naruto-nii?"

"The plan is you asking out Haruna by say... around a hallway, probably empty to alleviate the pressure. That or the roof, like in most Visual Novels." Naruto answered, as the two waved to their fellow Sainan High students. Naruto, keeping up his outward-persona, winked at a few girls who giggled and blushed, much to the jealous teeth-grinding of other guys.

"That's it? No, elaborate ritual involving a rubber chicken and me dancing around in my underwear?" Rito asked, shuddering at the memory of one of the most embarrassing attempted confessions to Haruna his brother put him and some others through. The only others in their circle of friends who fall for his elaborate schemes were Dan and Kenichi Saruyama. Not even Ran was immune to his whispered plays in helping her get Ichika to notice her. But when it came to the female plays, it was a little more tame than the ones he gives to guys. The only one who was immune was Ichika, due to being dense and seemingly uninterested in the opposite sex.

Unlike Rito himself, it came a little easier to his brother despite being dubbed a 'Shameless Lech' by Yui. It probably helped that his adopted brother was super smart, athletic and an all-around gentleman if a bit perverted. "Nope. When all else fails, refer to the classics or just outright say it." Naruto responded with an easy-going grin, it's not like Rito's affection for Haruna was one-sided, so he didn't really need to do anything too grand. Despite the simplistic nature of the plan, Rito felt that this was going to be his day, the day he wins over his long time crush. "Oh? Well, lookie here... I'm so fortunate to see her so early in the morning~."

Naruto's words caught Rito's attention and looked forward only to see the long black hair of Yui Kotegawa walking across them towards Sainan High. Rito knew how much his brother enjoyed messing with Yui just to get her riled up. It was some kind of unhealthy obsession with women who can be both mean on the outside while being a big softie on the inside. The power balance shifting women over men, meant that most women this day and age have grown too haughty for their own good.

Naruto did say he had a thing for those who could stand up for themselves. But with so many women being like that, it was hard to find one that was even remotely kind like his Mikan. So he had to adjust his preferences a tiny bit. Yui was one of the few that fit his criteria the closest, and her prudish attitude only served to make her more cuter in Naruto's eyes. "Naruto-nii... Can't you just be nice to her for a d-... Aaaand he's not here anymore..." Rito placated only for it to fall on deaf ears as Naruto headed off to greet Yui.

Sneaking up on her and matching her footsteps to hide his own, Naruto then wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear. "Hey there, Yui-chan~. I must say, it is quite lovely to see you so early in the morning. The moment I saw you're beautiful black hair, I knew it was you..."

"Uzumaki!" Yui exclaimed in surprise and anger as the No.1 on her 'list' made his appearance. She wiggled around to get away from his grip, knowing that one way or another, he would 'accidentally' grope her in a way. "Let me go, Uzumaki! Don't even think that I don't know what you're planning!"

"You need only ask, my dear Yui-chan~." Naruto said in a passionate tone. Adding the 'my dear' on purpose to bother Yui further when he surprisingly (to her) let go without a hitch.

"O-Oi, Uzumaki... W-What's wrong with you? Are you coming down with a c-cold or something?" Yui asked. Not once in her tenure of knowing this blonde lech did he just let her go when she asked. He always got in at least one grope, or if he was with Risa or Mio, they would do the inappropriate touching.

"Not at all. It's just that I find it hard to resist your orders when I lock my gaze with your pleading brown eyes." Naruto answered with a light bow. Had Yui been able to see his face, she would have immediately noticed the mischievous smirk he sported on his face.

"R-Really? D-Does that m-mean you'll stop your shameless acts, then?" Yui stammered with a blush. No matter how many times Yui tried beating him up to stop acting shamelessly, he would never do so. Granted, she mostly went the violent route when it came to him. So this new tidbit of information could possibly be the switch to get him to straighten up his act.

Naruto raised his head and got into Yui's personal space, using his hand to tilt her embarrassed face to look at each other, making her heart beat faster. "If my Yui-chan asks it of me, then I shall comply." Yui saw his draw in closer to her own and realized that he was about to kiss her. She didn't know why, but she found herself closing her eyes in anticipation for the incoming lip lock. Naruto wasn't only No.1 in her list of people she wants to straighten out, but also the most desired boy in their school district. It didn't help that his whiskers made people liken him to animals, or in Yui's case and weakness, cats. "Just kidding, nya~..."

Instead of feeling another pair of lips on her own, Yui felt his breath whisper in her ear and a minor pain in her butt and saw Naruto's offending hand retreat to his side with a triumphant grin on his face. Putting two and two together, Yui's red face of embarrassment turned into one of rage. Her righteous feminine fury shouting at her to take down this menace. "You... You shameless pervert!" Yui cried out as she threw a punch at him only to miss as he was already making a mad dash to Sainan High.

"See you later, my lovely Yui-chan~! " Naruto called out from the distance.

"Get back here, Uzumaki!" Yui yelled out as she ran off to catch up to him. Leaving Rito who was busy watching from a distance in the dust. It took him a few minutes to realize that he was left in the dust and was about to run off to catch up to them but was stopped when he heard his name being called.

"Yuuki-kun?"

Rito turned around and saw the blue-haired, blue-eyed form of Haruna Sairenji walking up to him. "H-Haruna-chan?"

* * *

"Safe!" Naruto called out as he touched down in the front gates of Sainan High. Having spun Yui around the residential district to mislead and prevent her from catching up to him too fast. Naruto dusted himself off a little and breathed in a good amount of the Springtime air.

"Not quite, Uzumaki." A familiar voice to Naruto said behind him. Turning around to see his secret friend and fellow IS conspirator, Chifuyu Orimura, clad in a formal, black suit for women. Naruto wanted nothing more than to call her 'Chi-chan' and hug the living daylights out of her. Not having seen her in a long time due to her work as an Instructor in the IS Academy. It didn't help that the Government was keeping themselves clean for the time being, so he and Chifuyu couldn't come together for work. "Did you honestly think I'm just going to let you skip the first day of school, Uzumaki?"

"Not really. I just thought you'll at least wait until after lunch..." Naruto sighed. He at least wanted to hold off his departure until after he helped Rito get together with Haruna. Sadly his plans came to a halt the moment Chifuyu decided to fetch him from Sainan High. "Oh well... Anyways It's good to see you again, Chifuyu-nee." Naruto greeted, not using Tabane's nickname for her since there were still other students coming in.

"Likewise. But once we start classes, you are to call me Orimura-sensei, understand?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Naruto waved off as he spotted some more of his friends coming in. Chifuyu headed to the car that would take them to the monorail, telling him that she'll give him ten minutes to say good bye to his friends for the near future. "Yo, Ichika! What's with that depressed face you're making?" Naruto addressed to a short, black haired youth with dark brown eyes. This was Ichika Orimura, younger brother to Chifuyu and one of Naruto's friends.

"Oh, it's nothing... It's just that Ran asked me if I could walk with her to school. Since I woke up early today, I kinda had spare time, so I complied."

"And...?"

"Well, I thought it would be good if the three of us walked together, so I asked Dan to come with. Ran wouldn't even talk to me during the whole trip..." Ichika finished with a tired sigh. Naruto could only shake his head at Ichika's obliviousness. The blonde then asked why Dan wasn't with Ichika now, knowing Ran went to a different school since she was a year younger than them. "Well, their mom called Dan and asked him to man their shop since she caught a fever." Ichika finished. He then looked over Naruto and asked him about a different subject. "Aren't you supposed to be going to IS Academy? What are you still doing here?"

Naruto jerked his head to the black limo that Chifuyu entered earlier. "That's my ride, gave me ten minutes... I'm only staying so I can tell Rito- well, I'll be..." Naruto's explanation was cut short as he saw his brother walk to school with Haruna Sairenji. No nervous stuttering. No awkward tension between them. And no shortage of hands clasped together. "My little brother... I'm so proud! You got a girlfriend before me~!" Naruto said as he gave Rito a brotherly hug while manly tears streamed down his face.

"You would have had a girlfriend too, if you just acted nice to Yui..." Ichika deadpanned.

"I don't want to hear that from you of all people..." Naruto retorted, ruffling Rito's hair while making Ichika look confused. He then turned to Haruna and gave a bow. "Haruna, I will have to leave my idiot brother in your capable hands! Please take care of him!"

"H-Hai?" Haruna answered with a slightly confused affirmative at the dramatic blonde.

"Naruto-nii... you're embarrassing me..." Rito muttered as he rubbed the back of his head. Naruto grinned a bit before tugging at his uniform and pulling it off. He now wore the male version of IS Academy's Uniform. The only differences was that the yellow blazer was replaced with a white, double-breasted one with black lapels, red lining and cuffs and a white belt at the waist. The green pants were also changed to white. "So you really are going..."

"Yeah. My sponsor isn't exactly going to like it if I don't go." Naruto answered. Feeling his ears twitch, he took a step back as Yui came in with a dropkick aimed directly at his previous spot. Yui then followed up by throwing a punch aimed at his face, but Naruto raised his hand and had his palm catch the punch. "You know if you just confess and say you love me, I might just stop my skirt-chasing."

"I-I'm not in l-love with y-you, Uzumaki!" Yui denied uncertainly with a half-angry glare. She then wrestled her hand out of his grip and stared wide-eyed at him after noticing his wardrobe change.

"The fact that you are only half-angry right now means you still thought about it." Naruto said, giving her a charming wink. "So, what do you say, my lovely Yui-chan? Will you go out with me?"

"Like hell!" Yui then punched him in the face and stormed off to calm herself and sort out her feelings. As much as she hated his lecherous acts, she knew that it was just that: an act. While the method she used to gain this information was far from honest(*cough* stalking *cough*), it did give her insight to the real Naruto Uzumaki. A loving brother to both his young siblings, a generally nice person to everyone he meets, a friend to animals and so much more that Yui stopped herself from stalking him so that she could learn more about him through actually interacting with him.

It didn't stop her from hating his shameless acts, though. "_If only he was like that to me and only me..."_ Yui shook her head at the weird train of thoughts and took one last and long look at what she would honestly say was a boy she wouldn't mind doing shameless acts with. She couldn't help but smile fondly at watching him rub his sore face while looking at her and still trying to maintain his charming composure. While she may not be able to punish him at the new All-Girls School he was attending, she felt that there was somebody there who would keep him in line for her. Yui then spun on her heels and headed off to her class, intent on using this reprieve from the blonde to sort out her thoughts.

"You know, I'm starting to think that being a genius isn't all it's cracked up to be..." Ichika commented. Remembering that Tabane was also a bit eccentric and had her own set of weird quirks. He thought that it was just something people subconsciously grew the better they get at something.

"Not like it will do you much good with girls..." Naruto muttered under his breath, making Ichika look confusedly at him again. It has been a long time since he last let Yui punch him, and the one she gave was definitely an improved version of the last. "Anyways, my time's up... So I'm gonna get going before the suit in the car wraps a burlap sack over my head." Naruto joked.

"You gonna be okay there? An All-Girls School might be too much even for you to handle." Ichika asked.

"I'll be fine. After all..." Naruto began. Ichika and Rito rolling their eyes as they knew what was gonna happen next. Naruto then spun around to look at the other people in the crowd of the schoolyard. "There's nothing Naruto Uzumaki can't handle!" He finished with a 'Nice Guy' pose. The crowd giving mixed reactions at his exclamation.

"All hail Uzumaki-sama!"

"Uzumaki-kun! We love you!"

"Damn it, Uzumaki! Stop hogging all the chicks!"

Just to name a few of the following reactions. The first belonging to the weird cult of guys who worshiped him as the most successful pervert in all of Sainan High. The second came from the inevitable and dreaded fangirls. While the third was a branch of dissenters from the weird cult who hates how he has such a way with the ladies, one of which was from Kenichi Saruyama who was being held back by his own posse.

"And with that I bid you, adieu Sainan High!" Naruto finished with a formal bow as he turned and pulled Rito in a headlock and ruffled his hair a bit. "If you have the time, try and hook up Ichika for me will you? Poor guy... so alone..." He whispered to his brother half-jokingly. Rito nodding his head as Naruto let him go and headed towards the car. "See you guys around!" He finished with with a carefree wave while his back was still turned, entering the black limo shortly after.

* * *

"You sure you want to keep him in the dark about you being a teacher?" Naruto asked Chifuyu. The two having spent a good deal of silence as the driver drove them to the exclusive Monorail for the academy. "IS Academy does surprisingly give good pay for a teaching job."

"As much as I love my brother, he's far too dense to notice a minor change like increased income." Chifuyu answered. Ever since their parents left them to fend for themselves, Chifuyu was the one who was left with the task of supporting their family. Sending Ichika an allowance in the recent years due to her duties as a teacher requiring her to live on campus like the other teachers of IS Academy. Only able to visit every so often. "Speaking of personalities, what's up with yours? Perverted lech? What spurred that on?"

"You actually." Naruto said trying to sound charming as he turned to Chifuyu and held her hand. The physically older woman bopping him in the head with her fist, telling him to stop his stupidity and tell her the reason. "Fine." Naruto began as he nursed the lump on his head. "Initially it was a defense mechanism to keep girls away, considering I already have two pining after me." Chifuyu nodded. Having been told about Naruto's sister/counterpart, who definitely liked him. Then there was Tabane, who even after years of Clone-Memory relaying, did not talk to his clones about it, making silences in the Calnus incredibly awkward. "I thought that acting like a pervert would keep others away. I needed to talk with Tabane and Yami first, since I don't want them fighting over me."

Another nod by Chifuyu, some light understanding crossing her face. "And now?"

"Well, what do you expect? I'm already around my thirties, I should be a family man already. Hell, I'm lucky I even got laid before I hit thirty... that would be so uncool!"

"Tabane's plan really screwed you over on that?" Chifuyu questioned, ignoring the latter part of his reply.

"Not completely. I have to admit, the second childhood was way better than my first." Naruto replied. He was grateful that the suit driving the car was those Secret Agent-looking guys that had earpieces and that the car had a divider. Even he wasn't careless anymore to blurt his secrets out even in front of a close friend. "While we're on the subject... How about it, Chi-chan? Wanna throw this old dog a bone? I have to say, Chifuyu Uzumaki doesn't sound too b-" Naruto's shameless proposal netted him a punch to the face, courtesy of another black-haired beauty.

"Idiot. I don't have time thinking about such things... not until Ichika can provide and support himself."

"Are you sure that's it? Or is it by any chance your brother comple-" Another punch to the face silenced Naruto as Chifuyu blushed in both anger and embarrassment. With a huff, she settled on ignoring him and turned her attention to the window. Naruto nursed his growing bruise and collected himself a bit. He was about to open his mouth to make another tease, but Chifuyu sent him a withering glare that made him stop, if only so he doesn't make a bad first impression to the girls at IS Academy by coming in filled with bruises. "Moving on then... Anyone I know who's attending my year or class?"

"Houki will be in your class. And Lingyin later on in the first semester but at a different one."

"Houki-chan and Rin-chan... eh?" Naruto mused with his thumb under his chin. "If I remember correctly... a few months back, Houki-chan was getting really stacked... And Rin-chan was-" This time, Naruto wasn't interrupted by a fist making contact to his face. Rather, it was him being kicked out of the limo. "Oi, Chi-chan! What's the big idea?"

"We're already here." Chifuyu answered with a smirk. "Unlike me, you're a student. So you have to arrive there the same way everybody else does. Plus, I have a meeting I'm running late to, no thanks to you. Here's your schedule, I'll see you at class, Uzumaki-san." And before Naruto could voice his outrage, the door to the limo closed and sped off to the hidden underground tunnel used by high profile members of the faculty. Leaving only a sheet of paper fluttering in its wake.

Naruto got up after letting out a resigned sigh and dusted himself off. He was more annoyed at having been unable to keep talking to Chifuyu rather than being kicked out. Checking his watch and the picked up schedule, he saw he had ample time to get to the Academy. However, Chifuyu was wrong on one thing and that was he could just fly into the place with his own IS. It's not like the media decided to cover up the fact that he was already a personal IS user.

Sending out an untraceable EM-wave on a particular Nanomachine, he received the return signal and touched a gray gem on a plain, black cord around his neck. "I have just the idea..." Naruto began mischievously as he was enveloped in a gray light this time and flew off.

* * *

"Hmm... Next is an Uzumaki, Naruto-kun." A bespectacled, green-haired, green-eyed teacher called out as she read the name from the class roster. She was wearing a yellow dress with black frills on the sleeves and hem, which reached to just above the knees. The dress also had small pockets on the side and also left her upper chest exposed, showing her pink bra. Her last article of visible clothing being her black boots reaching all the way to below her knee to give the 'Absolute Territory' effect. This was Maya Yamada, the Assistant Teacher to Class 1-1.

Some looked a little confused at the name, while the whispers from the news reports were being spun once again. One girl in particular, with dark-blue eyes and long, black hair tied by a green ribbon with a single black stripe in a high ponytail, looked to the sole empty seat as the words of their Assistant Teacher echoed in her head. _"It's true then... Naruto-kun is attending..."_ She thought as her cheeks heated up momentarily. Shaking it off, she raised her hand and called for Maya's attention. "Sensei, I don't think he'll be coming in anytime soon."

Maya nodded and referred to the class roster again. "So we'll be skipping Uzumaki-kun for now. Next is-Eep!" Maya squeaked in surprise as a blurry clump of something flew in from the window, before pinning itself to the top of the board. Getting over their initial shock, the class saw that it was an orange-colored banner, something the girl from before could only shake her head at, but couldn't help a fond smile making its way to her face, and a blush as she read what it said.

The cute teacher regained her composition and read aloud the writing on the banner. "'The Super-Awesome and Devilishly-Handsome Naruto Uzumaki has arrived!'...?" It was after reading that did Maya notice a new presence enter the room from the window. Or rather, dropkick into the room and come to a halt right in the center. And if by some weird coincidence, the room then had a burst of confetti and streamers from both floor and ceiling.

The presence in question was from a young male with spiky, sun-kissed blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes. He had a light-tan skin tone and the most noticeable feature was the whisker-like markings on his cheeks, three on each side. He had an easy-going grin plastered on his face as he walked up to the podium. The girls of the class then noticed he was wearing the Male IS Academy Uniform, albeit modified slightly. The inner dress shirt was colored a tolerable burnt orange and tucked out, his sleeves were rolled up and he had a dull gray gem on a black rope necklace, while his blazer was now draped on his shoulders like a cape.

"Hey there, ladies. If you hadn't already guessed, my name is Naruto Uzumaki! I hope we all get along~." His eyes scanned the room and locked with the pony-tailed girl's own, giving her a wink. He then turned his attention and rushed to the teacher's side and grasped her hands. "And what's your name, my bewitching bespectacled bea-" Naruto attempt at flirting with Maya was interrupted when a fist smacked the top of his head.

"It's the beginning of the school year and you're already picking up girls..." A stern voice that Naruto definitely knew said from behind his knocked down form. "Not only that, you've already made a mess of the classroom on the first day."

"Chifuyu-nee!" Naruto exclaimed as he tried to glomp her, using the other nickname to keep up appearances.

Chifuyu's fist meets Naruto's head... again.

"It's Orimura-sensei when in class, Uzumaki. I trust you will take responsibility in cleaning this up when school ends?"

Regaining his cool composure, he immediately went up to Chifuyu's space and held her hand dangerously close to his lips. "Anything for my Beautiful Black Ice Queen." He finished by kissing the top of her hand, which was then wrenched away and his face met the floor again. The girls in class could only watch in disbelief at the way the first Male IS pilot interacted with his teachers, and to the eyes of some, his betters.

"Um... is the meeting over already, Orimura-sensei?" Maya asked as she knelt down and poked Naruto's unmoving form.

Turning to Maya, Chifuyu answered her question. "Yes it has, Yamada-kun. Though I missed majority of it, I got there in time to get a summary of what was discussed. Sorry for making you greet the class." She finished as she walked up to take her place on the podium. "Listen up, I'm your homeroom teacher, Chifuyu Orimura. And it's my job to completely train you in one year."

"KYAAAA!" A collective chorus of girls exclaimed.

"It's Chifuyu-sama! The real Chifuyu-sama!"

"I came all the way here from North Kyushu, because I admired you, Onee-sama!"

"I can die if it's for Onee-sama!"

Rubbing her head, Chifuyu muttered. "It's really a sight to see so many idiots gathered here every year. Are they all coming just to my class?"

"Scold and abuse us more, Onee-sama!"

"But be nice sometimes too!"

Turning his head from his prone form on the floor, Naruto looked up to Chifuyu and said. "At least they're not asking you for babies or anything more outrageous..."

"So... You think you can control yourself until at least the end of this class?" Chifuyu asked as she pulled him off the floor.

"Of course. What kind of man would I be if I was not patient, Orimura-sensei~?" Naruto answered. Heading for the only empty seat, he heard some girls whisper the question of how he knew 'Chifuyu-sama'. The woman in question immediately calling for them to save their whispers for later and listen up.

"I'll have you people memorize the basics of IS within the next 6 months." Chifuyu started as she had her hands on the podium. "After that it's hands-on training, you should let the basic maneuvers sink into your body within half a month. Okay? If you agree, answer me. Even if you don't, still answer me."

"Hai!" The girls chorused while Naruto looked sleepy. He didn't really need to pay attention to the lectures, considering he did help create the things. The Alaska Treaty cut both ways, in that all developments in IS technology is to be shared to everyone, so he knew a lot of the perks of every Generation including the theories for the still-faraway-to-earthlings 4th Generation. He was half-certain Tabane already had the data and was already working on it alongside his project. The only thing he doesn't know are the specifics of individual units, and that was because he was simply too lazy to care about trivial matters.

"Uzumaki! You're making a disgusting face... I do hope that it's because you're dreaming about your unhealthy obsession with Ramen, rather than something inappropriate." Chifuyu called out as Naruto realized he spaced out too much into his thoughts and started daydreaming. "Now then, since you clearly find your thoughts more interesting... care to tell me what is the name of the Fighting Tournament held every three years that involves IS?"

"The Mondo Grosso Tournament, of which you were the first victor and was titled as 'The First Brunhilde', using your personal IS Kurazakura armed with only the melee weapon, Yukihira." Naruto answered with a smirk, surprising the class with something most males don't even know or care about.

"Good. It seems you at least have background knowledge." Chifuyu said before Naruto could say anything more. Maya then continued the introductory lesson without any further trouble. Explaining that IS Academy was an International School and all students were in dorms on campus. Roughly an hour passed as the introductions and the preliminary lesson were finished, leading to the morning recess.

* * *

Naruto let out an audible sigh as he glanced back and saw what looked like the entire student body outside his class' window. Some of them talking about how him being the first male pilot was all over the news, while others were daring their friends to talk to him. He would admit it was both flattering and unnerving.

Unwilling to wait for others to approach him, he stood up and made his way to a familiar, pony-tailed girl's desk. Said girl was busy focusing on sorting her things rather than pay attention to his approach. "Houki-chan~..." Naruto started as he leaned in on Houki's desk, surprising her at the sudden intrusion. "It's been a while since I last saw you... few months back, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Houki replied as she played with her hair a bit. Being related to Tabane, Houki and her father were immediately put under the Japanese Government's protection, causing her to constantly move from different locales in the country. Separating her from her friends and limiting the ones she makes outside them, putting a strain on the once-strong bond she had with her sister. It was only thanks to Naruto cheating a little bit with clones was he able to visit Houki on random months.

"Ah! You're still wearing that old ribbon I got you?"

"It is the first gift you gave me..." She muttered under her breath, which Naruto caught. He knew that some time ago, her crush on Ichika eventually shifted to him. And it was one of the many avoidable wedges he unknowingly made between the two sisters.

Naruto gave her a foxy grin as he continued. "Well, I'm glad you still like it! It took a whole month of my Ramen allowance money to get that for you." He joked, with Houki rolling her eyes at the mention of his favorite food. The ribbon itself was bought from a seasonal festival during the early years after his initial arrival. Now that he thought about it, it was around after that time did Houki started showing the signs of her shifted affection.

"Excuse me, but may I have a word?"

Turning to the voice, Naruto saw that it came from a girl with long, blonde hair that had two pairs of ringlets and had blue-eyes that was darker in shade to his own. Her uniform was modified to have a longer skirt that reached all the way to her knees. She also had a blue headband that had white floral trim on her head, the hem of her skirt and the edge of her sleeves had black frills and had a ray of light not bounced off them, he would have missed the blue earrings that looked like two arrowheads.

"Why of course, my dear." Naruto said as Houki made an aside glance to look at the girl herself. "Though, I'm afraid my ignorance to your identity needs to be rectified first."

"You don't know me? Cecilia Alcott?" She began as she slammed her palms on Houki's desk. "You've never heard of me? The valedictorian for the entrance exam and the Representative Candidate for England?"

"Afraid not. If you haven't noticed, your surname starts with 'A' while mine starts with 'U'. Therefore I came in way after you have introduced yourself." Naruto pointed out as Cecilia thought about it. "Next point, Entrance Exams are kind of a one-time thing unless you suck, so being a 'Valedictorian' in such would be a self-made title. Since the term itself is mostly reserved for Graduations." Naruto continued, as Cecilia looked dumbstruck at the logic. "Final point, now that you have graced me with your name..." He then held her hand up to his face as he continued on, Cecilia somewhat dreading that he would pull a similar stunt like what he did earlier with Chifuyu. "It's very nice to make your acquaintance, Cecilia~." He finished by doing exactly what he did with Chifuyu: kissed the top of her hand.

Houki looked on in unhidden jealousy, while Cecilia herself looked both indignant and embarrassed. "H-How shameless!" Cecilia shouted as she wrenched her hand away. "H-How dare a c-commoner like y-you touch me, a noble, like that!" She finished, trying to regain her haughty composure.

"Ah, but that makes it all the more fun, right?" Naruto began with a teasing grin. "The forbidden love... especially in a world like this... between a male commoner and a female noble... Ahhh... It would be just like the classics! With added mecha armor!" Truthfully, while Cecilia's attitude is slightly annoying, he could feel an inner kindness inside her. Which he assumed was probably from living a sheltered life, as most children from nobles are.

"W-What are you s-saying all of a s-sudden!?" Cecilia stammered as her blush was going out of control. "Here I am, intent on asking you nicely to cease your foolish acts and yet..." Naruto tuned out Cecilia's tirade as it didn't sound important, mostly just to brag how they are superior to others. Of course, Cecilia made sure to point out how he was also goofing off as the lecture went on. "As a Noble and a Representative Candidate, I am an elite among the elite who has defeated an Instructor from the entrance exam!"

"Good for you then."

"Are you making making fun of me?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't care much about titles. To me, you're just Cecilia Alcott, the totally hot blonde from England. Following that train of thought... do you have any plans on the weekend? I'm sure my sweet Mika-chan won't mind if I go on a date before visiting."

"You insufferable-!"

_Ding-Dong!_

With the ring of the school bell, Cecilia verbal lash out was cut off as Chifuyu and Maya re-entered the room. With an annoyed huff, Cecilia returned to her seat at an irate pace. "I guess that would be a no? Oh, well..." Naruto gave a downcast sigh before regaining his cheerful smile and turned to Houki. "Talk to you later, Houki-chan~!" Naruto waved as he returned to his seat. Houki nodded and focused her attention to the board. Not at all bothered that her conversation with her blonde friend was interrupted.

There would be plenty of opportunities to spend time with him. They were classmates now, after all.

* * *

Class ended shortly around the mid-afternoon. Naruto didn't really mind Chifuyu cramming in as much of the introductory lessons on the first day. As relevant as bookwork and theory were, they were just so incredibly boring. Had Naruto not already studied all this with Tabane, he would bet that it would look somewhat similar to his days in the Ninja Academy: being the dead-last.

"_Funny how even with hyperspace technology, we still carry around regular schoolbags."_ Naruto mused as he picked up his own, which only contained his doodle notebook, sketchpad and the phone-book they call the IS Manual. So far, the scientists of the world managed to crack the hyperspace capability of the IS, but only on the pocket dimension storage aspect of it. Naruto would admit that it was kind of funny watching the lab geeks try and find Tabane to learn the secret of the IS Core, and in turn, the secrets of IS in general.

Walking up to Houki, Naruto leaned down and began talking to her again. "Houki-chan~... Let's walk to the dorms together~!"

"W-What!?" Houki stammered as she blushed at the implications.

"Me being here is kinda short notice, so I doubt they already made a separate dorm for males, when the population of the gender is only one. Though I think they at least made me a separate room." Naruto explained, making Houki calm down and give a nod of approval. Naruto smiled widely as she stood up and picked up her bag. Naruto finally seeing how Houki individualized her look.

She was wearing the female and original version of the IS Academy Uniform, the skirt being the normal length in contrast to Cecilia's. She also had white thigh-high stockings that made the 'Absolute Territory' effect and black knee-high boots. Unlike the male uniform, the females also had a thin ribbon on their necks, with First-Years being blue. _"Huh... I didn't notice they had ribbons..."_ Naruto thought as he mostly kept his eyes on Cecilia's face to notice the accessory.

"W-Where are you l-looking, Baka!" Houki yelled as she punched him in the face for letting his gaze inadvertently drift south. Houki shook her hand to get rid of the sting from punching him, remembering how tough his skin was. Naruto recollected his orientation as he apologized to Houki for accidentally staring at her chest. Houki accepted his apology and the two began walking out to head for the dorms.

Having already flown over the entirety of the Academy earlier, Naruto already knew the way there. But the sights were different when seen up close like the cobblestone walkway, the river, the green fields and trees. Naruto relished in the feel of the soft breeze hitting his form as he walked together with Houki, making sure he avoided accidentally jostling other students. They didn't talk much about anything on the way, opting to just enjoy the walk in a comfortable silence.

They eventually reached the dorms, a large modern-looking building from the outside, while decorated like a fancy hotel on the inside. "So what room are you at?" Naruto asked after he and Houki went to the side, so they weren't blocking the doorway. "I'm at room 1025, by the looks of it." He added, reading off his schedule. Only noticing later that Houki was oddly petrified with shock as she read her own. "Houki-chan? Something wrong?"

"Room... 1025..." Houki read aloud as Naruto looked oddly gleeful at hearing her answer.

"So I'm rooming with you? Awesome! Race you there!" Naruto said as he dashed off, leaving Houki gaping before she ran after him. While she was thrilled they were roommates, they needed some ground rules if they were going to be rooming together. Unlike when they first met, there was a big difference when two teenagers slept in the same room together. "Ehehe~... I win, Houki-chan! As my prize... I get the bed by the window!" Naruto said, knowing that the rooms would at least have some kind of view or balcony.

Naruto just kept up his grin as he opened the door and saw their room was just as fancily decorated as the rest of the building. The only thing lacking was the creature comforts and individual things, but they were all neatly packed in the suitcases in the middle. "Why don't you see a problem with this? Males and females aren't suppose to share beds after they turn 7. It's common sense!"

"But there's two right there, and if I'm not mistaken..." Naruto began as he walked in between the beds and pulled a retractable, heavily-translucent divider. "See, this way we can keep our privacy... Still, it would be kind of weird, since we are just teenagers..."

"D-Did you a-ask to be p-placed in the same room as me?" Houki shyly asked with a stutter.

Deciding to tease her a bit, Naruto put on a serious face. "Yes. I did in fact." Sure enough Houki began blushing madly as her thoughts went haywire, making Naruto chuckle at embarrassing her. "Actually... I think I'll take the other bed..." Naruto then had an idea strike him as he tugged Houki away and out of the room before closing the door behind her. It took a few minutes as Houki stood out their shared room with a confused look.

The door opened a little later as Naruto beckoned Houki to come in. The girl in question now saw that their room was now finally furnished with their personal effects. Her Bokken and Shinai were neatly wrapped in cloth and propped against a stand near her side of the desk. Their suitcases of personal things and casual wear was all tucked away inside the closet near the doorway. The clothes themselves were in the drawers on their individual sides. The shelves on Naruto's side was filled with books and his desk had an extra monitor for his computer, and his personal laptop.

Houki looked awestruck and a little dumbfounded. Unaware that Naruto had a little help from his extra 'appendages' to finish decorating in record time. "Now that the unpacking is done..." Naruto trailed off as he headed to the door.

"Wait!" Houki began as she called for Naruto's attention. "We need to set up some rules if we're gonna live together!"

"Nah. I'll be fine with what you make... more importantly... There's only a shower for individual rooms, so I guess the bath is the public version." Naruto thought out loud as his nose started bleeding. Houki suddenly realizing what he was getting on about. "And since this is an All-Girls School..." He finished with a perverted giggle.

"I'm ashamed to see you have continued on the path of perverted interests... I will make sure that you receive your righteous punishment!" Houki's hair shadowed her eyes as she saw him head for the door. And with growing righteous fury, drew her Bokken and charged after him. "HENTAI!"

Some students at IS Academy would then bear witness to a shooting star in the dusk sky that day.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Yeah... I really have no excuse for taking so long to update anything. My apologies for slacking.

As for replacing Ichika, well the first season was mostly about him establishing his harem. So he's easily replaceable. He will only come in around Season 2, if only because of him being related to Madoka is an inevitability. This fic would've been a hell of a lot harder to write if I kept him in right now.

Naruto's IS was not wrongly typed. In Ch2 it did say green light, while here it's a gray light. There is an explanation for why that's the way it is. The standby mode is similar in appearance to the First Hokage's necklace, but in a gray color.

Naruto being a perv... serves to be an opposite to Ichika being dense. It's mainly an act and is only played for laughs, so don't take most of it seriously. He can still get serious when he needs to, but he's mostly easy-going.

Yui and Mikan will probably show up at random times, since the fic would mostly focus on the IS side. And as much as I respect your opinion, I don't really care if Mikan being in the harem is seen as creepy even if he is roughly two decades older than her. She's in Rito's harem in canon, which to most (not me) is more squicky than Character/OlderCharacter.

Next chapter would be the fight with Cecilia, the first official appearance of Naruto's IS and probably the arrival of a certain pink-haired alien princess? I'll try and stop dicking around so I can get it in at least by the time the weekend rolls around.


	4. Below Tabane's Level

**Below Tabane's Level**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.**

* * *

"Muuu~... I can't believe the menu changes daily..." Naruto whined as he idly played with his breakfast. Apparently, Mondays were the days the cafeteria served Japanese food and that their menu changes daily to accommodate the various cultures. In Naruto's terms, he missed Ramen day.

"It's just Ramen, get over it." Houki chastised. She was already familiar with his ridiculous Ramen withdrawal, and its weird side-effect of making him act extra childish.

"Muuu~... Houki-chan is still mad at me..."

"I'm not mad."

"But you have a grumpy expression..."

"I was born with this face."

"But your smile is way more cute!" Naruto reasoned, unknowingly making Houki blush. Deciding to stop letting the food torment him any further, Naruto wolfed down his plate within seconds and elegantly wiped his face with a napkin. He did promise his mom he wouldn't be so picky, but one does not simply pass over their favorite food when it's even remotely available. Having regained his energy, Naruto immediately put on his persona and watched Houki finish her breakfast, the girl trying to avoid eye-contact due to how intense his staring was.

"Is there something on my face?"

Naruto said nothing as he just continued staring. After a few more minutes, Naruto took out his Holo-pad and began searching for something Houki was not privy to. The girl taking the reprieve from his gaze to finish her food lest she suffer more uncomfortable looks. Finishing her meal, Houki took time to sneak a peek at what Naruto was using his Holo-pad for, the boy being oddly secretive at what he was doing when he snapped it shut after feeling her breath touch his neck. "Ah, ah, ah... No peeking~." He said with a chiding wag of his finger.

"No fair. I want payment for that weird staring you did." Houki reasoned with a pout.

"Ehehe~... It's a secret, Houki-chan~. But just for reference..." Naruto then took it back out and snapped a picture of her to use for whatever it is he was doing. Houki understandably cried her outrage at him stealing a photo, but Naruto immediately put on a childish and pleading look that Houki couldn't help but sigh in defeat at her mental defenses being shattered. Naruto was simply a damn good actor if he can switch from pervy lech to childish kid and back at the drop of a hat.

Standing up, Naruto did a couple of stretches to keep his body limber. Intentionally doing stretches that 'accidentally' lifted his shirt a little to show the girls in the cafeteria some of his abs. Smirking inwardly as even the haughty Cecilia, who was previously glaring at him from afar was now looking away with a mad dusting of pink in her cheeks. Houki on the other hand was bordering on being a nervous wreck due to her proximity. "Well... I still have some stuff to do, so I'll see you at class, Houki-chan! Enjoy the seconds I got for you!" Naruto finished before dashing off.

Houki looked confused at first then saw one of the waitresses deliver a second helping of breakfast to her table. Normally, Houki had a large appetite due to her Kendo Training. But this time, it was because she was too worried about Naruto when he didn't come back after she sent him flying, making her miss dinner that night. Shaking off her confusion, she inwardly thanked Naruto for his considerate action and helped herself to the second serving.

"Um... Shinonono-san? May we sit with you?" Houki turned and saw three girls, one of which was the resident sleepyhead, Honne Nohotoke, who was unsurprisingly still in her fox-themed pajamas. Houki gave them a nod, as the girls took their seats next to her. "Wow. Shinonono-san, you sure do eat a lot for a girl..."

Houki shrugged, but gave an explanation anyway. Knowing that this was just a way to break the tension and rid them of the perception that she was unapproachable. "It's just Naruto-kun compensating for making me miss dinner last night."

"If you don't mind us asking... How do you know Uzumaki-kun?"

"We heard you were sharing a room together."

"I guess... You could say he's a friend from my childhood. But I've only known him when I was around 5 years old." Houki shared. Not minding that most of the First Years in the cafeteria were listening in. "Though he is kind of a pervert, he's really a good guy overall. Back then, I was always fascinated with Kendo since my Dad owns a dojo. As a result, most kids stayed away from me because of my developing masculine habits and my temper. But he helped me make more friends outside of one other and often visited me when my family had to move multiple times."

Honne nodded fervently at Houki's assessment, raising her over-sleeved hand to draw the attention to her. "Yup-yup! I saw him hanging from a tree branch last night and he gave me some sweets when I helped him down!" She said energetically before yawning.

The girls giggled curiously at what the resident blonde male was doing hanging from a tree branch. They then heard a two claps and saw Chifuyu in a track suit, ordering them to stop wasting too much time on breakfast. "I'm the dorm supervisor for First Years, if you are late for school, your punishment is 10 laps around the track field. No exceptions, so get a move on!"

"Hai!" The girls in the cafeteria chorused.

* * *

Naruto was busy sitting in his seat for class as he drew on his sketch pad. Having heard from a blue-haired girl wearing glasses that during the curriculum, there was periodic tournaments throughout the school year. Naruto was only partly excited at the prospect, because he and his IS was already crazy strong, no student in their year would be able to match him in a fair fight. But this at least gave him the opportunity to test out new ideas, which was what he was doing right now.

"Still... that blue-haired girl was kinda cute... too bad she fainted before I could ask for her name." Naruto mused as he looked out the window, seeing some students arrive to school. His hand automatically finishing the design for his new creation. All he needed to add was to complete several formulas and equations before he can run a simulation on his laptop. He then heard the door open and saw Chifuyu enter with her usual folder. "Oh, Chi-chan! How's it hangin' bro?"

"That method of talking really doesn't suit you." Chifuyu retorted. Since class doesn't start until another half-hour and they were alone, she let him use Tabane's nickname for now.

"Really? I was just trying out some of the things kids these days find 'hip'." Naruto explained, giving a shrug at the weird taste of the generation. "So, what'cha come here for? I have to admit, a confession from you at this time would be a great way to start the morning!" Naruto asked before a rolled folder made a collision course with his head. "Okay... so it's not that..."

Chifuyu rolled her eyes as Naruto nursed the lump on his head. Taking initiative and not wanting to waste time, she threw him a small black ribbon. "I need you to fix Kurazakura for me."

Using partial deployment, Naruto's eyes was covered by an translucent black visor with a silver band that wrapped around his head to keep it in place. "Jackson, can you analyze this? Compare it to the specs for IS-002 Kurazakura." Naruto requested to the AI of his IS. Not many IS' can get to the point of developing their built in AI past the basics. It is only when an IS Core is permanently assigned an IS suit and a pilot is when the AI can actually start developing. As far as Naruto knew, only his and Chifuyu's has their AI developed, since Chifuyu never used White Knight at all.

"Processing..." Jackson responded as Naruto waited patiently and saw Chifuyu having a nervous bead of sweat drip down the side of her face. "Comparing Data... Complete. Showing results on HUD."

Naruto read the revealed data and gave Chifuyu a hard look. "Jeez. You totally wrecked your IS, Chi-chan... Armor broken by 97%, Weapons broken by 83%, Shield Generator broken by 94%... It's practically falling apart... What the hell have you been doing with this for the past few years? Why are you only having this repaired now? I feel so bad for Totten-kun..."

Chifuyu looked away and drew a breath. She knew she had to get this verbal lashing someday. "There's this group that's been stalking military bases around the world stealing IS', I've crossed blades with them a few times..."

"And you didn't call me for this why exactly?"

"I didn't want to trouble you. I thought I could handle them by myself, but each round meant they had a new unit to use..." Chifuyu answered. Fidgeting a little as Naruto silently asked the unspoken question. "You know our units are special. So I didn't want to ask outside mechanics to fix it for me, but then that would lead to you finding out."

Naruto gave a sigh as he brought up his Holo-pad and typed in some data. "Jackson, upload Totten-kun to the Secret Server. He should be able to recover properly there."

"Understood."

"Well, this delays my project by a good month. I'm gonna need tons of materials for this, so I'm gonna have to break 'those' out." Naruto said as he put away his sketch pad then returned his attention to Chifuyu and this time, gave her a bop on the head. "That's for being an idiot and withholding information, little lady." Naruto scolded. "Once an IS develops its AI, it's no longer just a tool... it's your partner. And we're supposed to be a team Chi-chan, if you needed my help, all you have to do is ask and I'll have a clone switch with me." Naruto said tenderly, as Chifuyu looked a little ashamed.

Not only was she acting foolish and arrogant by taking on the mysterious group by herself. She was unknowingly being inconsiderate of her Kurazakura's AI: Totten, and unknown to her, Naruto himself. The same Naruto who in his early life ignored Kurama as a living creature and treated him like a weapon for him to use and demand chakra from.

"I'm sorry, Totten." Chifuyu apologized as she touched Naruto's Holo-pad where said AI was being uploaded to. The AI may not be the best of companions when it came to casual dialogue, but they were always helpful whenever the IS was deployed. Even when dormant, they were the ones who send out warning bells from incoming attacks that were not in the direct line of sight, and they were the ones who activated the Absolute Barrier when necessary. "I'm sorry to you too, Naruto. I shouldn't have been so inconsiderate..." She said this one with a bow, using his name for once and not his surname.

"It's fine. As long as you understand." Naruto said with a warm smile. He then had an idea pop into his head and put on a grin at the prospect. "You do know that my services aren't free, right? How about you treat me to some Ramen for a whole wee-Oww!"

"You and I both know that Ichika and I will be put out on the streets if I ever have to treat you to Ramen for a week." Chifuyu chastised as she retracted her folder from hitting him on the head, but gave a small smile at Naruto always trying to diffuse serious situations with a stupid joke or two.

"Okay. How about this then..." Naruto began after rubbing the lump on his head. Whispering his remuneration to Chifuyu who listened intently but had to bop him on the head one last time for saying something stupid when he did his usual pass at her. "Okay, I get it! No more mentions of your brother comple-Oww!"

Chifuyu turned to leave as her mild blush threatened to go out of control. "I'll see what I can do about the menu. But don't get your hopes up, the Board doesn't really spare time for small matters like the cafeteria menu."

"It's fine. Rin-chan coming in later may just get me my fix..." Naruto said, drooling a little at the end. Chifuyu shook her head a little at arguably the best IS pilot's weird tastes before taking her leave. She still had some things to do before class started. Naruto got out of his Ramen daydream and stowed away the black ribbon of Kurazakura in Hyperspace storage. He then pulled out his doodle notebook to pass the time until class starts.

(A little later)

"Alright. Before we start today's lesson..." Chifuyu began as she stood at the podium. The class paying rapt attention to her as they sat at their desks. "We will now decide on the Class Representative who will participate in Inter-Class Tournaments. This position also entails attending Student Council meetings, as well as committee meetings and will be the leader of the class. Self-nomination or nominating others is fine. Any takers?" Chifuyu finished as she gave an unnoticeable glare at the doodling Naruto.

"I recommend Uzumaki-kun!"

"Hey!" Naruto called out.

"Seconded!"

"Stop it..."

"I agree too!"

"Guys... this is really annoying..." Naruto muttered as he began sulking since it didn't look like anybody else was up for it.

"Is there no one else? If so, then he'll be elected without need for votes." Chifuyu said as she crossed her arms. Naruto did not like the smirk she had on her face, either. He stood up and was about to voice his outrage but a voice from the back beat him to the punch.

"Unacceptable!" Turning to the speaker, Naruto found that it was none other than a standing Cecilia who voiced her displeasure. "Having a man as our representative is nothing more than shame!" She continued by taking her arms off her desk. "I, Cecilia Alcott will not bear such shame for a whole year! It is already an unbearable pain to live in this country!"

"Not like I want to take the job anyway." Naruto muttered but was ignored as Cecilia continued her verbal tirade. In all honesty, he had more than enough free time to do it. The only reason he doesn't want to is because he was being lazy and would prefer spending his time playing around.

"It's decided! We shall duel for it!" Cecilia finished with her index finger pointed at him challengingly.

"Like I said, I really don't want it either way!"

"Come now, Uzumaki. Surely it would hurt your pride as a man if you were to back down from a challenge. I mean, 'There is nothing Naruto Uzumaki can't handle!', right?" Chifuyu commented with a bit of mischief in her tone, making Naruto give her a dirty look for using his line.

"_Well played, Chi-chan. Though I do hope you can resist my counterattack later on."_ Naruto tore his gaze away from Chifuyu and saw Houki and the other girls looking at him expectantly and waiting for him to make a move. "Fine. But I'll tell you right now, I'm not all that strong."

"_Bullshit."_ Chifuyu thought, allowing herself a little use of vulgarity in her thoughts.

"Hmph. It is to be expected, though I do hope you at least put up a fight." Cecilia taunted haughtily as she strutted forward. "If you dare lose on purpose, you are to become my servant... no, my slave!"

"I wouldn't mind being a slave if it's for you." Naruto flirted, catching Cecilia off guard at the sudden reversal. His mind drifted a little to see what that would be like, which soon delved into something inappropriate and will not be explained further. "It sounds like fun, though..." Clearing his throat, Naruto put on a dashing smile as he gave a small bow with his right hand on his chest. "I have prepared your afternoon tea, Cecilia-ojou-sama."

"It's n-not supposed to be f-fun!" Cecilia stammered before glaring angrily at the jovial Naruto, who was being applauded by the other girls for his acting skills. "Be serious for once!"

Naruto put on a small smirk as he stopped drowning in the praise. "Nah, being serious would get me wrinkles." He lied. It was literally impossible for him to gain such things anyway. "So it's settled then? If you win, you get to become Class Rep. And if I win..." Naruto then put his fingers on his chin to think about a prize for his victory.

"You will become the Class Representative." Cecilia supplied but was ignored when Naruto had his pondering look turn into one of realization, complete with smacking his fist on his palm.

"I know! How about one date?"

"Wha-?" Cecilia choked out in surprise, with the whole class being in a similar state of shock at the request. Houki on the other hand was silently gritting her teeth and much to her own surprise, Chifuyu felt a tiny twinge of jealousy. Cecilia shook off what she deemed an arrogant request, and reassured herself that she will win and prove that women are still stronger than men even if one could use an IS. "F-Fine. I accept those terms! But just so you know, I won't hold back. Nor shall I give you a handicap!"

"I would be insulted if you did." Naruto said with his smirk still in place.

"Then It's settled." Chifuyu began as the attention shifted to her. "The battle will take place on Mond-"

"No. It will be this Friday." Naruto said, giving Chifuyu a look over his shoulder that told her to make it so.

"Right. This Friday, at Arena 3. Make sure the both of you are prepared."

"You know I'm always prepared. If you know what I mean." Naruto said wiggling his eyebrows at Chifuyu who promptly hit him with her folder.

"Hmph. You can act high and mighty all you want, but the fact remains that against a Representative Candidate like myself, you won't stand a chance against me in a Mass-Production model." Cecilia taunted haughtily.

Naruto pointed to his gray gem necklace making Cecilia slightly widen her eyes. "I don't wear this as a fashion statement. Though it does help the ladies see their radiant beauty reflect off of it." Whispers already broke out at the prospect of Naruto already owning a Personal IS, since only highly affluent people or a country's Representative Candidate would have one.

Houki in particular looked slightly more shocked than the rest. She knew he was connected to her sister, in that Tabane was the one who found him and tutored him at things. She also knew that the Yuuki family isn't extremely wealthy to get their own IS Core, so her mind was going haywire at thinking up if there was a stronger connection between him and her sister. And she most definitely will not rule out anything.

"Hmph. This changes nothing. But at least it levels the playing field." Cecilia began after regaining her composure. "After all, a one-sided duel would not make an impressive show. And it would reflect ba- Are you even listening?" Cecilia shouted indignantly at Naruto who looked like he was in a daze before Cecilia's words snapped him out of it.

"Huh? Oh, my apologies. As much as I love listening to a woman's voice, I'm afraid my fantasies about our date got in the way." Naruto replied as he gave Cecilia a wink which only served to infuriate her.

"You... You insufferable-!"

"That's enough!" Chifuyu interrupted. "The matter is settled and if you idiots didn't notice, we still have class that needs attending to."

"Very well. I suppose I can let this slide for now." Cecilia said as she spun on her heel and headed for her seat. Still a little annoyed at the lecherous blonde. "You will have your just rewards for being so shameless." Naruto just continued grinning before he plopped back down on his seat and went on his way to start doodling again.

"All right folks, open your Training Manuals to page 12." Chifuyu ordered as she began her lesson.

* * *

The lecture passed by without anything too big happening. It mostly encompassed the basics of the hidden AI inside the IS, and Maya rightfully telling them that it's not just a tool and was their partner. The girls caught the cute teacher off guard when they asked if by partner, she meant something akin to a boyfriend or other. Naruto, being seated at the front overheard Maya musing that she had no experience in things since she never had a boyfriend either.

Ever the opportunist and acting like the hormonal teenager he looked, Naruto immediately offered to take Maya out for dinner, making the cute teacher blush even harder and Chifuyu whacking him righteously in the head. The only reason there was nothing written in the rulebook about Teacher-Student Relationships is because, barring him, IS Academy was fully female in both student body and faculty, and they couldn't recall and revise the rulebooks just to accommodate one male.

"Hou-ki-chan~!" Naruto began as he popped up in front of said girl's desk, surprising her at the startling entry. He rubbed his head sheepishly when Houki had to reprimand him for constantly surprising her like that. "Ehehe~... Sorry about that, but I wanted to see if you wanted to have lunch with me!"

"I thought you didn't like today's menu?"

"Hunger beats preferences! Come on, let's go!" Naruto explained before pulling Houki along to head to the cafeteria, not even noticing the girl was lightly blushing at their connected hands. He had to admit that despite the shifting menus, the food was pretty well-made, and the long lessons and Cecilia's challenge request made him very hungry. "Yo, two specials for me and Houki-chan, but make mine extra big!" Naruto requested to the lunch lady, it didn't take long for the food to be served and the two friends found a seat shortly after, with them sitting side-by-side.

"Something on your mind, Houki-chan?" Naruto asked after scarfing down a few bites. His companion was eating at a more sedate pace than usual and had a thinking look on her as she ate. "You know if there's something bugging you, you can talk to me about it."

Houki took a breath before addressing him. "It's nothing. I'm just curious as to why you don't seem even the slightest bit worried about your duel." She half-lied. She was still thinking about the possible deeper connection between Naruto and her sister, so she told him half of what was bothering her. "If I remember right, you haven't even beaten me in a Kendo match before either. It's only natural that I would express some worry for you."

Houki knew Naruto was strong physically, his tough skin being one example, the only reason he loses in a Kendo match was because he didn't really develop his skills in them apart from the two-handed style. The way he and Tabane styled his IS was initially for hit-and-run tactics and situational adaptation. So a disciplined sword style didn't really match well with that, but it did let him learn to deliver stronger slashes with a two-handed blow if needed.

Naruto shrugged and answered. "I'm not really worried about the fight, since I don't really have any stakes in it other than my pride."

"And the... date?" Houki asked through gritted teeth.

Naruto smirked a little bit at seeing Houki acting all jealous. "Spur of the moment actually. I'd say I was around 58% serious about it." Naruto paused his explanation to wolf down some more of his lunch. "Though if you want, I could take you out the day after. What do you say?" He finished with a charming wink, but felt himself get flicked in the forehead.

"Now is not the time for that." Houki reprimanded as she withdrew her hand and Naruto rubbed the spot she flicked. "Shouldn't you be trying to learn anything about Cecilia-san and her IS?"

"But the surprise factor is so much better! I want to see what special weapons she has on her suit!" Naruto answered excitedly. The 3rd Generation of IS mostly entails adding special weapons to the machine that would be part of the suit itself, and keep it separate from the restrictions of the Equalizer introduced in the 2nd Generation, which was a way to balance out the fights in the subsequent Mondo Grosso Tournaments after the 1st Generation.

"_If he isn't acting like a pervert, he's acting like a child."_ Houki thought fondly as she watched Naruto flick some peas into the air and skillfully catch them in his mouth. Putting on a show and make his carefree nature all the more apparent. "Fine. But at least 'try' to win the duel."

"Oh, so you're fine with me going on a date with Cecilia then?" Naruto teased as he returned to playing with his food. Not noticing the tick mark on the irate Houki's head nor her shaking-with-rage fist.

"BAKA!"

* * *

"Damn, I would be surprised if the pilot suit on its own would win me the duel." Naruto commented as he looked over the form-fitting tank top and capris they call the Boys' Pilot Suit. He did see the one for girls as well, and found it looked a lot like a School Swimsuit with added thigh-high stockings. Instead of making the 'Absolute Territory' effect, the boys version gave a prime view of his abs, something the student body only glimpsed once a few days back. He was very sure that the IS still functioned normally with normal clothes, making him wonder if this was just a fetish of a possible bisexual Headmaster.

Houki was off to his side as she blushed to herself when an image of Naruto in the pilot suit entered her mind. She only caught brief glimpses of the body hidden underneath the boy's clothing, but the suit itself would definitely accentuate his athletic build. "I can actually see that happening..." Houki muttered under her breath.

"Yeah, but Chifuyu-nee got the color wrong." Naruto muttered as he traced a finger on the green lining of the dark blue pilot suit. "She knows it needs to be orange~!" He finished with some anime tears.

"Uzumaki, what's taking so long? Hurry up and get in your suit so we can get on with our lives." Chifuyu called in from the Comm center. "Alcott is already out there waiting for you."

Naruto took his eyes away from the suit and turned to the exit ramp where his opponent awaited his arrival to their duel. "My, I'm so flattered that she's willing to wait for me~!" Naruto cheered happily, twisting the meaning of the words by a little. Walking towards the exit, Naruto gave Houki a wave. "Well, I'm off, Houki-chan! Cheer for me, okay?"

Houki responded with a nod. Watching Naruto disappear into the sunlight-covered exit. She then turned her attention to the large monitor in the hangar and watched the match play out from there.

(With Naruto)

"This place is packed! I thought this was an internal affair in Class 1-1?" Naruto commented as his eyes drifted across the packed bleachers in the arena. His eyes lingering a little longer at two blue-haired girls on opposite sides of the arena.

"It can't be helped. News travels fast when it comes to you. The fact that not only is a Representative Candidate dueling you, your possession of a personal machine from the get-go made most of the school curious." Chifuyu answered from a Comm link, not at all bothered that Naruto was not in a pilot suit. It was not like she hasn't already seen what he's packing underneath his orange clad form. "I wouldn't be surprised if there are actually a few reporters in the crowd either."

"Aww man... that means I have to actually try!" Naruto groaned with a roll of his eyes. If there really were reporters filming his first performance in an IS match, that means that somehow his friends and family back home could and would be able to watch him. Walking to the edge of the runway, Naruto grasped his draped jacket's left side with his right hand and pulled it off, tossing it into the air as it was blown away by the wind. Not bothering to notice it was caught by one of the girls with blue hair.

Left in his burnt orange dress shirt and white pants, Naruto looked at the hovering Cecilia as his hand drifted to his necklace. He was enveloped within a gray light and began rapidly ascending to match Cecilia's altitude level.

Up in the Comm center, Chifuyu had her eyes widen by a fraction as the specs of Naruto's IS appeared in the display. _"It looks different from before..."_ She thought. Chifuyu knew that Cecilia was no match for him in terms of skill, but an IS' specs still makes a difference. Naruto was practically flying around in the prototype of the 1st Generation model, while Cecilia was in a Mid-3rd Generation one. Chifuyu then rolled her eyes as a memory replayed in her head, remembering that Naruto had a habit of purposely making people underestimate him.

This change in his IS' specs was more than likely such a ploy.

Back in the arena, the light died down to reveal Naruto in his IS. He had the same translucent black visor from before, but this time, the silver band had small circles with short diagonal protrusions at the top-back covering his ears, mimicking headphones. He didn't have much armor on his torso, barring the armor that rests atop his collarbone and shoulders, this one resembling a football player's shoulder pads. On his back was two protrusions that connected to two pods that opened up, forming an 'x' shape on his back and functioned like they were his wings.

His limbs were also sparsely armored, and the ones that were looked thin and streamlined. His right forearm having what looks like a folding blade, while his left had a small, hexagonal, physical shield. His hands were covered by normal, black, armored gloves instead of clawed gauntlets. Next was his lower half, the armor covering both calves and feet all in one, instead of having a separate joint between them. On his waistline's left side was a large piece of armor, probably a weapon, while there were five smaller ones evenly spaced around the rest of the waistline.

The visor split apart from the middle and retracted to the sides, showing the calm blue eyes of Naruto Uzumaki opening as he smiled at his opponent. Cecilia took the time of silence to analyze the strange IS before her. Not only was it in a predominantly dull gray color and asymmetrical, but it was also scaled to the pilot's size. All IS was large and lifted their pilots by a good foot or two in height, the arm length was also increased for better reach. But this one was still in a regular Human scale and looked like it was fitted exactly to his form, perplexing Cecilia if it really was an IS, a sentiment shared by the spectators.

She received a notification that the analysis was done and looked confused at the machine's name as she read it aloud. "IS-N?X Nameless... Is that really an IS? Are you even on First Shift?"

"Of course. Just because it doesn't look anything like the others doesn't mean it isn't one." Naruto answered Cecilia's question. "Though, I have to say... Blue really suits you Cecilia. It accentuates your pretty golden hair." He complimented.

"Hmph! And that dull gray heavily contrasts your childish and shameless personality."

"Ooh, feisty... I like it!" Naruto joked as the visor began wrapping around his eyes again. It was translucent on the outside, while the inside was transparent. "Yeah, I'd love to get a paint job, but I don't really have the time for that now. After all, I'm being indulged in a dance with such a beauty like you."

"Stop joking around and fight already!" Chifuyu irately call in from the Comm center, no doubt impatient at wanting to know what his IS can do now.

"It would be my pleasure!" Cecilia called out as she aimed and fired a blue-colored energy beam from her Starlight Mk-III Beam Rifle, Naruto simply sidestepping thanks to the alert from Jackson. Cecilia kept firing her shots, taking careful aim every time as Naruto zipped to the sides to make her miss. "That's right! Dance this waltz orchestrated by Blue Tears and I, Cecilia Alcott!"

"But pew-pew lasers don't really make good music!" Naruto joked as he kept using last-second dodges to escape Cecilia's shots. He was intentionally trying to scout what weapons Cecilia's machine could use by drawing out the battle and force her to change tactics.

(Comm Center)

"Um... Orimura-sensei. Why is it Uzumaki-kun is only playing defensively?" Maya questioned to the black-haired teacher. "His evasive maneuvers are good enough to let him close-in with his sword, yet he's still keeping his distance."

"He's trying to get an idea." Chifuyu answered as she folded her arms while continuing to watch. Maya turned her head halfway to silently ask Chifuyu what she meant, but also so she could keep a peripheral view on the duel. "You wouldn't expect it of him at first glance, but despite his easy-going and carefree nature, Uzumaki is actually someone who is exactly below Tabane on the intellectual scale. And it's the only reason I always excuse him when he goofs off in class."

"I see, so what he's doing right now is trying to force Alcott-san to show him more of her suit's abilities." Maya assessed, turning back to the screen when Chifuyu gave a nod to her assessment. It was a simple plan to gather information, something he could have easily done beforehand had he not wanted to enjoy the surprise.

"_Then again... even I'm not sure."_ Chifuyu thought. _"Nobody really knows and can tell what that idiot does."_

(Arena)

"Doesn't look like, she'll be switching up tactics anytime soon." Naruto mused as he dodged another laser shot. "In that case... we'll just have to force her!" Naruto called out as he stopped dodging, taking a hit as he sped up and closed-in, unfolding his steel blade in the process.

"So you stopped trying to be an annoying little fly and actually fight now?" Cecilia taunted. "But it's foolish of you to attempt close combat against a sniper!"

"What? Do you expect me to engage you in a sniper duel?" Naruto returned, his calm smile still in place. "I could just as easily hide behind a rock and bombard you with guided missiles." He added jokingly as he weaved in between Cecilia's shots and slowly closed-in, much to her growing shock.

"Blue Tears!" She called out, making the 4 spikes at the end of her wings detach and start flying at him with lasers ablaze. Naruto reeled back at the sudden salvo and retracted his blade as the constant stream forced him to return his focus to evasion.

"_Remote Weapons, eh? So that's where the name comes from." _ Naruto thought as he had Jackson analyze the new weapon while he dodged the shots. Each of the units seemed to fire off one after the other, keeping the attacks in a stream of laser fire. _"Hmm...maybe I could add it to my bits..."_ Naruto thought before he noticed Cecilia take aim. _"It's still flawed it seems... she needs to concentrate when using it and if those are firing, she can't..."_

"I have to applaud you for lasting this long." Cecilia stated in a calm tone, seeing as they have established distance once again. "But I'm afraid that it's time this came to an end." She fired her rifle again, keeping the bits deployed just in case she need to continue playing keep-away.

"I'll say. My first Saturday here is going to be a date with the beautiful, blonde Englishwoman. I can't help but get excited! Mirror!" Naruto teased as the five small pieces on his waist detached and began flying around him, with four being at quite a distance and one orbiting around him. He then brought his sword arm out and immediately shot out a green-colored laser beam at Cecilia.

"_It's not just a sword!"_ Cecilia thought as she engaged him in an aerial shoot-out. Inputting her commands, her Blue Tears' bits began flying and shooting at him. Naruto seemed like he abandoned all defense and made a beeline for her, with his sword unfolded and ready to strike as he tanked the shots. "I won't let you get any closer!" Cecilia shouted as the two cylinders on her hips stood up and expelled a pair of missiles. Naruto reciprocated with an inhuman reaction time as he came to a halt and the large piece of armor left on his waist unfolded and shot out one of the missiles with an electrified, yellow shot while his sword cut down the other. _"A Railgun?"_

Not wasting anytime admiring the explosion, he quickly closed in on Cecilia and gave her a slash as he flew past her, dropping her Energy levels low, having used too much on firing her laser barrage earlier. She still had enough to keep fighting, but she would need to manage her laser shots. "Dear, dear. I probably lost a few points on the scale of chivalry for hitting a girl..." Naruto said with a smirk that infuriated Cecilia. "Not exactly the best first impression to make to one I'm going on a date with."

"Please. My first impression of you was already ruined from the start." Cecilia retorted as she tried to regain her haughty disposition.

"Ouch... That stings right here." Naruto joked as he pointed to his chest. "I'll have you know that the rest of the ride is much more fun past the first impression." Cecilia rolled her eyes as she saw that his shield levels were still the same even after tanking multiple shots in his charge. "You noticed it already, huh? Remember my words earlier?" Cecilia then noticed that Nameless' bits were now arranged differently. One was still close by to Naruto's body, while the others were now arranged in a different pattern. The only thing Cecilia heard that didn't sound like shameless flirting was one word.

"Mirror. Your weapon allows you to reflect laser-type shots?" Cecilia questioned in growing dread.

"As contrary as it is to the name, it mostly refracts. Case in point." Naruto demonstrated as he folded his sword and shot the green-colored beam from his arm-mounted gun at one of his bits. Cecilia watched in fascination as she now realized that the Nameless' bits were now hollowed out, and when the laser went through it she saw the beam bend at an angle before hitting another bit, repeating the process and felt herself get hit from a blind spot. "Look below, all those holes down there were from your shots being refracted downwards. This would have made a better offensive weapon if I had a way for my shot to be fired inconspicuously. Having my opponent blast themselves with their own laser is also an option, but they would have caught on quicker."

Naruto then shot a few more lasers, making them refract and destroy two of Cecilia's bits with the remaining two managing to escape. "As you can see, the combinations are near endless. But once seen, loses its flair. Honestly, I wasn't actually certain that it would work, let alone you having laser weapons. But you have my thanks for letting me make a test run."

Cecilia felt a blow to her pride at finding out she was being beaten by an experimental weapon. She impulsively fired off a salvo of missiles from her hip-mounted cannons, Naruto simply shooting them down before they make contact. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew she was going to lose. Blue Tears was only outfitted with Laser-based weaponry, and the suit's gimmick was a moot point now that she was up against an opponent that could easily turn her own shots against her. Seeing her ammunition levels for her missiles drop low just made her all the more worried for her impending defeat. In an act of desperation, she had her remaining two bits deploy and fire off lasers keeping a close eye on them to have them evade any refracted shot.

"_She always has the farthest one fire first..."_ Naruto thought as he had his Mirror refract the shots. There was a lapse in the incoming laser shots as Cecilia fired missiles in between to keep him busy. Refracting one more shot, but this time made it go to the focusing Cecilia, who was promptly hit by her own laser due to her need to concentrate and focus on keeping her bits safe. Naruto made quick work of the immobile bits, using his normal laser shot to shoot the closer one while having the Railgun shoot the farther one, disabling Blue Tears' gimmick. "So, how about it Cecilia? Give up?"

"Never!"

"Good. I just love those who don't give up." Naruto commented as he saw Cecilia ready her last two weapons, the missile launchers and her beam rifle. He took off his solid shield and placed it on his waist, recalling the Mirror bits back in place. He then placed his right hand on his left bicep, his left forearm now extended out and aimed at Cecilia. "This may be a little rough, but just bear with it, 'kay? It contains all my love, my anger and all my sorrow! ROCKET PUNCH!"

The moment he said that, his left hand rocketed towards Cecilia at blinding speed. The very nature of the attack was so unconventional that Cecilia could only gape with disbelief as it made contact and tore through the remainder of her shield levels, forcing Blue Tears to activate Absolute Barrier. The girl herself plummeting to the ground as she lost focus on piloting, her mind simply focused on processing her defeat as Chifuyu announced the victor from the Comm Center.

Amidst the cheers of the crowd at Naruto's victory, the boy himself flew over to catch Cecilia in the air. "Yo, nice weather for flying, no?" Naruto began with his visor retracted as he carried Cecilia in his arms, her IS deactivating in the process. He then noticed that the girl looked downtrodden and that face made him feel a little bad for winning. "If it's any consolation I was only 58% serious about the whole date thing. I wouldn't do it if you weren't willing. But if you really want to, I'll be happy to-"

Naruto was stopped in his tracks as Cecilia's finger made contact with his lips. "Please. Say no more, I... I really need some time to think..." She requested as Naruto reached her hangar and set Cecilia down. The blonde girl quickly running off with naught a look back. Naruto rubbed the back of his head a bit before flying off to his hangar, reuniting with Houki.

Deactivating his IS, he gave a tired sigh as he let himself fall down to the floor. "I know you're faking being tired." Houki said stoically as she walked up to him and let some bottled water splash over his face. "No matter what you say, I won't kiss you to make you feel better."

"Oh well, it was worth a shot~..." Naruto said as he catapulted up after his failed attempt at tricking Houki. Dusting himself off, he accepted the bottle of water Houki handed him and drank the remainder of the contents. "Ahh... I remember when you first fell for that trick, you were just as red as my mom's hair."

"Baka... I was not!" Houki yelled as she blushed at the memory. Not liking how Naruto was laughing at her expense, she lightly punched him in the arm to stop him. "Chifuyu-san said that classes were suspended for the rest of the day."

"Aww, that would ruin my plans to play hooky today!" Naruto joked as he wiped away the accumulated sweat over himself with a towel. "You doing anything else today, Houki-chan?"

"Yes. While class is suspended, there is still club activities to attend to."

"Well, it's good thing I'm with the Going-Home club then~!" Naruto said with a grin as he made his way to the exit door leading to outside the arena. The place was still abuzz about the IS match, judging by the whispers and the looks to his direction. Some would congratulate him while others tried to gain info on his IS. Reaching the intersection where they would part ways, Naruto gave a wave good bye as he headed for the dorms, while Houki headed to her club.

As he left, he felt a feeling of being watched but shook it off since everybody was still talking about him. He didn't even notice the girl with short, blue hair standing atop the roof as she wore his blazer like he normally did. The girl's noticeable red eyes watching his every move as a small smile made its way on her face. The wind blew in intensity and she coincidentally caught a whiff of the scent on Naruto's blazer. "Smells like Ramen..."

* * *

"Ahh~... That's so nice-ttebayo~..." Naruto said, letting his verbal tic out as he entered the relaxing hot waters of the baths. Since most students were doing club activities, he had free reign to use the bath without any interruptions and lessened the chance of random girls walking in on him. Not because he was shy, but because he didn't want to be labeled as an enemy of all women. He may be tough and spry, but one way or another he would have to deal with Righteous Feminine Fury should that scenario happen.

"Ah, I almost forgot!" Naruto began as he smacked his fist on his palm. "I need to get some payback from Chi-chan for putting me in that mess in the first place..." He finished with a sense of dread washing over him. He remembered that the fight was for deciding on who the Class Representative is, and since he won, he would more than likely be elected as such. "Then again, my counterattack on Chi-chan could possibly change that..."

He let his body slouch as he took out his IS pendant and held it above his face. In truth, 'Nameless' was just a ploy he and Jackson created. Had he not limited his IS abilities, Cecilia would have been unable to even graze him. Closing his eyes, Naruto thought about how he could incorporate Blue Tears' optic drones to work with his bits. Or if there was any way he could improve them or make a new compatible weapon for Cecilia's unit. Being under Tabane's tutelage also inadvertently infected him with a lust for knowledge like all scientists have. That was why Naruto wanted to know if Cecilia's IS had any special weapons.

Unlike the current models of IS, his was not limited in the slightest by Generational development. He may have the prototype for the 1st Generation, but thanks to Tabane's tutelage, he could constantly improve his suit with different weapons, stronger armor, faster thrusters and the like. It was hard to prepare for battle against his IS not only because he controlled information about it, but also because of the fact it was ever-changing.

Add in the fact that it was meant to work in tandem with his Chakra and Transformation abilities and you have one hell of a monster to fight if you were to cross him.

Nemesis beware.

Naruto sat upright as his Nanomachines alerted him to a buildup in energy in front of him, slipping his IS necklace back in its usual place as he did so. Since nobody else was here and security cameras are forbidden in bathrooms, Naruto had his hair transform into a fist just in case whatever it was in front of him would prove to be hostile or troublesome.

In a flash of light and a popping sound, Naruto bore witness to the sight of candy-pink hair and strangely enough, a spade-shaped, black tail. Both traits were definitely attached to a body.

A body with breasts, as his hand could attest to.

Definitely belonging to a girl.

"This is going to be troublesome."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Wahahaha~! Did you really think I was going to reveal what his IS was so soon? Well, I gave a partial glimpse of what it is. Like I said before, there's a good reason why it's gray and not green like it's supposed to be. Chifuyu even commented on it looking different, and I explained near the end there on partly why that's the way it is. The names for the AIs come from Cyber Elves in the Megaman Zero series. They probably won't have a physical appearance here, since they would mostly be voices. His IS serial code 'IS-N?X' is because I can't put three question marks in a row for some reason.

As stated near the end, Naruto's IS has a very variable arsenal, so don't expect special weapons to consistently show up. The Preset, so to speak, would be the Arm-mounted Sword/Beam Rifle, the Physical Shield and the five bits on his waist. The thing he was drawing on his sketch pad is also one such weapon, but will not show up until a long time. His IS true form would also be in a similar case, maybe around the Unmanned IS drone fight or the Silver Gospel fight would be when it's properly revealed. And if you're starting to catch on, please keep it to yourself so as to not spoil the surprise.

Also please stop asking for Chifuyu in the Reviews, because I'm trying to play around with her relationship with Naruto a bit. It might take a while, but she will be in it.

Yes, I purposely made it ambiguous on which Devilukean Princess teleported in. Is it Lala, Momo or Nana? Who knows? Well... me, but you're free to guess~! Also will Naruto ever get his blazer back from the mysterious bluenette? Find out on the next chapter of 'Beyond the Stratosphere'!


	5. The Troublesome Alien Princess

**The Troublesome Alien Princess**

**Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.**

* * *

Despite being an International School, IS Academy still had a majority of Japanese influence in its curriculum. Evident by the fact that Saturdays were still school days. Granted, they were half-days so as to accommodate the international students who were probably unfamiliar with the custom. But it still managed to grate a bit on Naruto's nerves, who wanted to spend his weekends with Mikan and maybe Yui back at their home town.

True, Naruto could have easily played hooky for Saturdays since Chifuyu didn't really mind him goofing off. But the reason Chifuyu was forbidding him from leaving Academy grounds for the first weekend was because of a troublesome problem that came up last night in the bath. However, laziness and Chifuyu's ruling wasn't the only thing stopping Naruto from getting off his bed this early morning. In fact, it was the same troublesome problem last night that was stopping him from getting up, but at the same time bolt out of his room as fast as possible to escape Houki's divine retribution.

For now, let's turn back the clock.

* * *

(Flashback)

"_This is going to be troublesome."_ Naruto thought with an inward sigh as he quickly withdrew his hand from the breast he was 'accidentally' groping. The candy-pink haired girl with a devil tail stretching her arms over her head as she cheered about her escape being successful. His eyes then scanned her body, taking note of the metallic bracelet on her wrist. And as much as he tried to ignore it, his perverted side took note of her alluring body. _"Teenager she may be, but she's damn hot!"_

The girl then opened her previously closed eyes to scan the room she was in. Naruto had to inwardly chuckle at the strange irony that the girl would have green eyes, sea-foam in shade, but green nonetheless. Her eyes then settled on him as he leaned back in a relaxed position and gave her a charming smile. "I was wondering when the universe would grant my wish to bless me with a totally hot Devilukean..."

"Huh?" The girl asked with a curious tilt of her head making Naruto sweatdrop at his wasted attempt at flirting. "Ah! How do you know about Deviluke? Earthlings were said to not know about other life-forms!"

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not an earthling then." Naruto answered, the girls eyes widening at his words. "Naruto Uzumaki, a pleasure to meet you..."

"Me? I'm Lala!" She introduced happily. She leaned in closer as if examining him. "Hmm... You don't look any different from normal earthlings..."

"Neither are you. But of course, that's not counting this." Naruto countered as he stroked her tail gently with one of his fingers. Lala made a small squeak at the sudden action and suppressed a shiver of pleasure that coursed through her body. Naruto knew all about the physiology of Devilukeans and many other aliens thanks to the files he copied from Nemesis' base, so he knew that her tail was a very sensitive spot. Lala pouted at him for the underhanded tactic, but Naruto simply kept his calm smile as he continued. "To answer your question, I am the last Zero-Type Human alive and through special circumstances found out about other lifeforms and planets."

Lala stopped her pouting in favor of a look of great surprise. "It's a miracle you're still alive then!" She exclaimed in surprise. After all, a planet blowing up that wasn't because her father was in a bad mood and blew one up in anger was a very big cause for concern. The Shinobi planet was one of the most violent planets ever recorded in Devilukean Archives, a planet even her father did not bother annexing to his empire. Her father even admitted that the possibility of finding a worthy opponent was very high in that planet, at least in terms of raw power.

"I guess from a certain perspective, you could say it is." Naruto replied with a little bitterness hidden in his tone. He was more grateful to Kurama for protecting him from the blast and while he drifted vulnerably through space. Nemesis may liken herself as his savior all she wants, but the only thing Naruto would be grateful to her for was the fact she got him out of drifting aimlessly and preventing him from landing in a planet that probably ate babies or something. "But enough about me... I'd rather get to know the cute girl gracing me with her presence."

"Ehehe~... I'm no one in particular, just your average traveling Devilukean!" Lala deflected. Naruto already knew she was lying, high-profile names like Gid Lucione Deviluke was not something easily glossed over, especially by a researcher like him. It was only right that he knows who the head honcho for the galaxy was, and information about succession is never an exclusive matter. While he can't say for certain that Lala was definitely his child, the Queen of Deviluke was said to have the same pink hair and green eyes that Lala had, so he couldn't rule out the possibility.

"I see." Naruto said. He then stood up and dried himself with a towel and handed another one to Lala, who followed his lead. "I'd love to talk more, but this isn't the place for it. So would you be willing to come with me?"

Lala mulled it over for a bit before nodding happily, reasoning this would be a good way to learn more about the mysterious and extinct Zero-Type Humans race. Their Archives only had information about the Zero-Type Humans from the past before the current few centuries, so this was a great opportunity for Lala who, unbeknownst to Naruto was kind of a genius and a bit of a study bug as well.

Naruto accepted Lala's answer and carried her in a bridal carry as he partially deployed one of the headphone parts of his IS, he then requested something to his AI. "Jackson, hack IS Academy's Security Camera network. Turn them inactive for a half a minute or so."

"Understood." The AI responded. "Hacking complete in 5...4...3..."

"Hang on tight. Oh, and you might feel a draft." Naruto warned as he got ready to dash to his room, Lala doing as told. The moment Jackson announced that the cameras were off, Naruto made a mad dash to his and Houki's room. Getting inside just seconds before the cameras were back online. Had he not disable the cameras, IS Academy staff would then initiate a hunt around his room when they see footage of a black blur in the dorms and entering his room. He set Lala down on his bed as he used his insane speed to quickly get dressed in his nightwear consisting of a shirt and shorts. "Sorry I can't get you any clothes. I'd use my roommate's but I don't think she'll like that."

Houki would start busting out her Bokken if she found out he sifted through her clothes... again. The first time since they were roommates being when he first unpacked all of their stuff for her on the first day. When Houki realized that the following morning, her Bokken was immediately at his throat asking if he saw anything she probably didn't want him to see. Of course, to keep up his facade, Naruto answered in his usual blunt but perverted way, which was why Houki looked miffed last Tuesday morning.

"It's fine." Lala reassured with another of her cute smiles.

Naruto then headed off to the kitchenette and prepared some tea for them to drink while they talked. Taking a seat on his desk chair as he waited for the water to boil. "So, Lala-chan. Care to explain how you wound up in the mixed bath? I highly doubt beautiful girls are raining from the sky today."

Lala giggled a bit at his little joke and held up her wrist that had the metallic bracelet. "I used this! It's my Pyon-Pyon Warp-kun! It can transport any living unit anywhere within a short distance... but I haven't really put in an option to choose a destination... So it's completely random~!" Naruto was somewhat amazed at the device, finding similarities to his father's Hiraishin Jutsu.

"That's quite a feat to make a device like that, Lala-chan." Naruto complimented making her beam another smile. While it may have parallels to the Hiraishin, it was still very much a prototype. Unable to transport inorganic matter meant that it teleports its user naked, but oddly enough included itself despite being made of inorganic matter. Lala pointed out another flaw that it took a whole day for it to charge energy for its use, making it really only useful for emergencies.

"Okay, now that I got the 'How', think you can answer the 'Why'?" Naruto requested kindly. Lala had a thinking look on her face, but also had traces of uncertainty and hesitation. "Look, I know, You're the Princess of Deviluke, and that you're obviously running away from something or someone if that 'Escape Successful!' earlier is anything to go by." He shot in the dark, with his kind smile still in place. "I respect your privacy and all, but I won't be able to help you if I don't know what's going on. Talking about your problems may help you feel better, too."

Lala looked away for a few minutes as she felt a little ashamed for hiding things from someone who was upfront with her and said they would try and help her even if they just met today. She felt a weird sensation go through her, but shook it off as she spoke up again after taking a breath. "It's because Daddy keeps arranging Marriage Interviews for me. I've had enough of listening to older men I don't even know go on and on about themselves!" Naruto listened intently to Lala as she continued while trying to visualize a scenario of what happened. "They only care about ruling the galaxy once Daddy steps down the position to me since I'm the first princess. Those suitors don't even really care about me..."

Lala then explained that this wasn't her first attempt at escaping, telling him that her father's elite guards were mostly the ones who were given the task to take her back since they were her escorts to the interviews as well, making most escape attempts short-lived. "I keep telling Daddy that I could find my own husband, but he keeps rushing me and keeps sending me to Interviews anyways. I just don't wanna get forced into a loveless marriage." Lala finished, feeling a weight lift from her chest as she had a small smile make its way to her face. "Thanks for listening, Naruto-kun~! I kinda feel better now."

"Glad to help. But I think you should at least try to talk to your Dad first." Naruto began, making Lala turn curiously to him. "Just think of it from his perspective, he is the Emperor of the Galaxy, but he won't be around forever. Eventually his children are going to have to take up the throne, and it would continue on to their children, and so on. He may be hasty about it, but all he wants is what he thinks is best for you, your siblings and your planet."

"But Daddy is only doing it so he can retire faster and perv on exotic women from other planets."

Naruto blinked at that and processed it for a few seconds before he burst into a fit of laughter, making Lala look at him funny. "I rest my case then." Naruto said with a few stray chuckles in between. He heard the kettle go off, making him stand up to get the tea ready. However, before Naruto could disappear into the kitchenette, a voice came in from the direction of the balcony, making Naruto stay a little longer to see what it was.

"Lala-sama!"

"Peke!" Lala called out as she opened the sliding glass door to the balcony. It came from a small round... thing that had swirly eyes and bat-like wings on its shoulders. It was mostly white in color, with dark-blues at some places and a red tie with a yellow tip. Naruto just watched Lala interact with the thing with a curious eye, he didn't notice it before since she was wet but apparently Lala had a lock of her hair sticking up at the top of her head indefinitely. "Hey, Naruto-kun? Are you listening?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I spaced out for a bit there. You were saying?"

"This is Peke! He's an all-purpose Costume Robot I made!" Lala said. Peke resting in Lala's arms as he waved a greeting to Naruto, who promptly returned it. Lala then threw the borrowed towel away to Naruto's direction, the blonde catching it in mid-air and opened a chute on the side of the door to the shower to throw it in the laundry. "Well Peke, I leave it to you!" Naruto watched as Peke wrapped around Lala's now-naked body and began forming clothes around her. The blonde letting himself drip some nasal blood due to how overly-erotic the otherwise simple costume change was. "Ta-da~! What do you think, Naruto-kun?"

"You stick out like a sore thumb... but it suits you, Lala-chan." Naruto complimented, making the girl cup her blushing cheeks. She then felt herself up to make sure she was comfortable, musing that had Peke not arrived, she would have no clothes to wear. Naruto didn't really mind Lala wearing what was arguably a cosplay outfit, his perverted side definitely liking how form-fitting the outfit was. Once again, Naruto was about to head to the kettle but his ears twitched as something entered his sensory network. Jackson properly confirming that the energy signatures bears some similarities to Lala's. _"So her pursuers are here."_ Naruto stretched his hair to turn off the stove, ran to grab Lala's hand and use the Shunshin Jutsu to reappear in the same arena he fought Cecilia. "Your old man's goons are here to take you back, I just sensed them a few seconds ago."

It barely took more than a minute as two guys in suits were immediately in the arena. They looked just like any other bodyguards in that they had shades and the standard black suit on them. They also sported devil tails, but were shaped like arrows rather than a spade like Lala's. "It's about time we finish this little game of tag, Lala-sama."

"Earthling! Stay out of our way and we won't have to hurt you." The other one said to Naruto.

"How did you find me so easily?" Lala asked.

"It was simple. We just had to follow that robot of yours."

"Peke... Didn't I tell you to be careful just in case someone follows you?" Lala questioned to the robot on her head that was now functioning as some kind of hat with wings. Said robot was now sweating bullets at obviously not being careful and unknowingly get tailed. "Ah, Mou~! You stupid robot, now all my plans went down the drain!" Lala exclaimed childishly as she began beating on Peke while he was still on her head.

"Now just come quietly with us Lala-sama and maybe your father will be lenient on his punishment of you." One of the goon said as he threateningly took a step forward, not noticing Naruto was doing a few leg stretches off to the side.

"No! I don't want to go back!" Lala exclaimed, puffing her cheeks as she turned her head away. One of the goons quickly ran up to her and was about to grab her arm before his own hand was retracted when a small rock hit it. Lala looked to the direction it came from and saw that it was Naruto who had thrown it. "Naruto-kun? What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing~! Just playing some stone skipping~!" Naruto whistled with a mischievous foxy grin that had an underlying threat within his closed eyes.

"We warned you, Earthling! This is your last chance to back out and walk away!"

"You really expect me to just let you take Lala-chan back against her will?" Naruto began as he opened his eyes. It still retained the mischievous glint within them, but also contained a message telling them to just back down unless they want to enter a world of hurt. "Sorry, but I don't think so. Your king would have to send more than dorks like you if he wants to take Lala-chan back! Because you can bet your ass, I'm gonna kick the shit out of all of them!"

"Naruto-kun..."

"Don't worry, Lala-chan. I'm pretty strong, so I'll protect you." Naruto reassured to the pinkette. Said girl was now feeling her heart beat faster for some reason as she continued staring at Naruto with a blush. The two goons decided to assault the meddlesome earthling together and charged at him with purpose. The blonde himself made a couple more leg stretches before meeting both half-way and with a powerful spinning motion, promptly punted the two goons into orbit, making them nothing more than a twinkle in the sky. Naruto was about to do a victory pose had he not heard Lala cry out.

"Let me go, you jerk! I don't want to go back!"

"Lala-sama, please calm down. This is for your own good and your father's will for goodness sake!" Turning around, he saw Lala struggling against the grip of a tall, white-haired, blue and gray eyed male wearing bone-designed armor with a black cape. The man currently had a grip on Lala's arm and was trying to stop her from struggling.

"Hey Boneface, you really think that's the proper way to treat a lady?"

"Don't get in my way, Earthling. This is His Majesty Gid Lucione Deviluke's orders, I am to retrieve Lala-sama immediately and I shall do it without fail." The man answered in a tone that left no room to argue. "You may have beaten my aides, but I shall have you know that I am on a completely different level."

Naruto partially deployed his visor over his eyes and had his hair shoot out a steel-piercing Senbon at a pressure point on the man's arm he scanned with his visor, forcing the man to release Lala, who immediately rushed over to Naruto's side. "I don't really care what you came here for, but that is no way to treat a woman."

"I see you are no mere earthling... You are the same as that girl who lives in planet Kurosu. However..." The man said, ignoring Naruto's remark and took out the Senbon with his other hand.

"_The same? Is he talking about Yami-chan?"_

"You are a fool to think I would easily abandon my mission with simple threats..." He continued as he drew a black, tube-shaped hilt and held it by his side. "You obviously have no idea who you are dealing with, so I'm offering YOU a chance to surrender. Just step aside from Lala-sama and we won't have to get violent."

Naruto looked more amused at the threat than anything. Nemesis' data did say Devilukeans were one of the strongest aliens in the galaxy, so this would be a good way to measure the IS' caliber against their intended targets (aliens in general). Naruto himself had several self-imposed limiters on him that regulates how much he finds an opponent worthy to go all-out on, so if this guy is any good he just might have to actually try this time.

"I'm sure I would be more receptive to your requests had you been a woman. But I'm not the type to let people get forced into things they don't want to do." It was for freedom in general, but he reasoned it still applied to arranged marriages. Call him a romantic, but Naruto greatly preferred that people should marry who they love and loves them back. "I won't sit idly by as cute girls are forced into such things, I already told your pawns that if this Gid guy wants Lala-chan so badly, he'll have to go through me!"

"How dare you address His Majesty with such a lack of respect!" The man shouted angrily, his black sword handle erupting with a neon-green light that he quickly swung at Naruto, who blocked his sword by partially deploying the sword arm of his IS.

"Temper, temper." Naruto chided playfully. "I can tell you're quite strong. So if you wanna fight, just say so~!"

"You can't Naruto! Zastin is the best swordsman in all of Deviluke, you can't beat him!" Lala told him in concern.

Naruto chuckled a little at that as he and the now named Zastin broke their deadlock. "Don't worry, Lala-chan. I told you, I'm pretty strong so I'll protect you." Turning back to Zastin, Naruto eyed his sword and had Jackson analyze the components, neither he nor Lala noticed that the girl had her cheeks heat up from his declaration. It was fascinating him because it was a melee-type beam weapon, while he has solved the equations to make one, Earth did not have the materials to keep it from burning itself. The most he could make with it is create Beam-resistant coating for his blade and shield.

"You'll regret hindering my mission..." Zastin warned as he readied his blade. A second passed and Naruto was immediately upon Zastin, giving him a quick shoulder-tackle. Dusting himself off as he stood up, Zastin thought. _"He's fast!"_

"I normally don't prefer fighting but you look like the determined knight type, so the only method to stop you from taking her is by kicking your ass."

"Lala-sama needs to be returned to her father, she is not your property!" Zastin said. He was very protective of all three princesses. Having protected them ever since they were born from both internal and external threats. Not everyone just submits to an absolute ruler, so there were more than a few rebels who would take the golden opportunity to overthrow Gid by using his daughters as leverage.

"Maybe so, but I really think she should be free to do what she wants." Naruto answered, deploying his shield arm to accompany his sword.

"I'm sorry. But I have my orders." Zastin said as he charged with his sword, deadlocking with Naruto's shield. Naruto pushed him away and tried a wide sweep with his sword, Zastin back-stepping but quickly closed in again. Naruto quickly engaged Zastin in a sword duel, limiting himself first to his basic IS weaponry.

Zastin easily matched Naruto's swing speed, blocking several slashes and returning some of his own. His opponent was no slouch either, as Naruto was easily able to block either with his shield or sword, locking them in an eternal clash of blades with neither gaining an upper hand. Despite this, Zastin knew that both of them were holding back a great deal of their own power. He himself at first feeling that this young man was not worth having the best swordsman of Deviluke go all-out. But as Zastin and Naruto continued exchanging sword blows with no clear winner, the white-haired swordsman was slowly evicting his elitist thoughts and stopped holding back, but only by a little.

Naruto once again blocked with his shield and tried pushing away Zastin's only defense, but instead of swiping with his sword, he folded it and shot Zastin with a laser at point-blank, only to be disappointed when Zastin used his honed reflexes to quickly block the laser with his sword. Naruto didn't let up his assault as he pulled out some regular kunai and threw them at Zastin, then following with a barrage of Senbon hair needles. Zastin was able to cut cleanly through the kunai with his sword, but had to dodge the needles due to how abundant they were.

Naruto quickly closed in as Zastin recovered from his dodge with his sword unfolded, the Devilukean barely able to block with his left arm, which shattered the armored gauntlet on it. Both the needle from earlier and the force of the sword slash contributing to its destruction. Naruto knew that Zastin was a good guy and was only following orders, so he didn't let his sword cut clean through his arm. But at least exposed another vulnerable spot on Zastin's armor and if the resistance his sword had to go through was anything to go by, it was also tougher than most metals.

The fact that Naruto was able to push Zastin to step up his game with partial deployment and his machine at the incomplete state at least told him he could go against grunts and possibly mid-levels soldiers easily. But since Zastin was beginning to stop holding back, Naruto had to reciprocate his gesture by incorporating his transformation abilities and basic ninja skills of combat pragmatism. Using distractions and the earlier needle strike he used to make Zastin release Lala.

"I guess I was right in my assumption, you are similar to that girl in Kurosu." Zastin commented as he shook his hand to rid himself of the shattered pieces of his gauntlet. "You both have similar abilities, and some of your ways of fighting are oddly the same. You also have no reservations on using trickery to gain the upper hand."

"Of course. I was taught to use ANY means in combat. Kinda have to if you want to stay alive on my planet." Naruto replied. Nemesis' databases had records of the Shinobi planet from even before chakra came to be the dominant superpower, and sad to say, the wars back then were much more brutal than the Ninja Wars. Naruto only wising up to the combat pragmatism ideology after his planet exploded.

Naruto was now more sure than ever that it was Yami who Zastin was talking about, having told the girl stories and a bit of the teachings of the Shinobi way of life, so she was just as pragmatic in combat as he was. At least that was what she was like when training before his escape. "That reminds me, I have to call Train and see what's going on with her." Naruto idly thought out loud, raising his sword to block Zastin's sudden strike, noticing that it was faster than before and had his reflexes and Jackson's warning not come in time, he would be sporting a large gash on his shoulder.

Zastin obviously did not share Naruto's reservations. Initially, he only wanted to fight until the boy was knocked out. But seeing that the boy was skilled in combat made Zastin feel the need for stronger force. He didn't know the boy, but his soldier mindset automatically registered him as an unknown, and in that mindset, unknowns were dangerous. The fact that the boy was actively hindering his mission to retrieve Lala only made him more determined to defeat him and continue his mission, even if he had to use lethal force or even opportunism to do so.

Zastin added more force to back his sword as he pushed their deadlock to his favor. Keeping alert in case Naruto makes use of his appendages again. He had only seen from a monitor what the girl from Kurosu can do with her hair, and he needed to keep his wits about him if he wanted to win this duel. Their deadlock was then broken when Naruto used the relatively small shield on his other arm to bash Zastin in the stomach to push him away. But Naruto did not get away unscathed, for as much as he disliked using it, Zastin immediately shot out a beam of lightning from his scorpion-like tail, packing enough voltage to burn a good bit of Naruto's casual wear and leaving a scorch mark on his torso.

"That's new." Naruto mused. He hadn't really gone through the entirety of the database, so he didn't know the specifics of what Devilukeans can do. "Learn something new everyday, I suppose." Naruto said, brushing away some stray soot from his scorch mark. He was getting amused at the fact he found a good opponent in Zastin, the fact that they keep matching each other was making his blood boil in excitement.

He hid it well, but Naruto always did enjoy fighting, a leftover sensation from when he was still starved for attention. After all, opponents had to acknowledge the others' presence whether they liked it or not. Seeing the daylight waning, Naruto knew he couldn't waste any more time fighting Zastin, Houki would start getting worried if he got back to the room after dark. "How about we end this, Zastin-san?"

Zastin looked surprised but was unable to reply as Naruto immediately raised his sword arm above his head. He could see wisps of blue energy erupting around the blonde and had them wrap around his sword. Zastin was no stranger to channeling energy through a weapon, but even he could tell that this was a very powerful attack. Even then, he could tell that Naruto was still holding back quite a great deal of power. So with a desire for victory in mind, Zastin did the same by making his lightning based energy course through his laser sword. Taking a breath, the two then charged at each other with the intent to win.

Naruto didn't know exactly why he was going so far for Lala who he just met today, but he reasoned that it was just in his nature to help those in need. Hell, had he stayed with a true shinobi mindset, he didn't need to save that construction worker that day, but he did so anyway even knowing it would expose his cover or at least part of it. He didn't want to admit it, but Naruto knew he still had his Hero-complex intact even after all this time.

"Stop!"

The two fighters barely registered the words in time, and only managed to stop their blades a hair's breadth away from the form of Lala standing in between them. The girl understandably had her eyes closed, but opened them the moment she felt no pain entering her system. Lala breathed out a sigh of relief as she turned away from Naruto to look at Zastin.

"I'm not going back to Deviluke. And I'm not going to meet any more suitors!" Lala said to Zastin, she then latched herself onto Naruto's arm and said. "Because I'm marrying Naruto-kun!"

"What!" Zastin exclaimed in surprise while Naruto just looked at Lala with a raised eyebrow. Naruto didn't really mind getting married, but he always thought that he should at least get that talk with Tabane out of the way first. Even then, there was the other girls who were also pining for him that he had to hear out first and something sudden like this would just make his life all the more troublesome. That and he was sure he hasn't made any of his shameless proposals or confessions of love in the last 24 hours.

"Think you can elaborate on this a bit, Lala-chan?"

"Yes. I'm sure I would like to know what this is all about as well." A stern voice came in from the side. Turning their attention to the speaker who was none other than Chifuyu who was walking up to them. Naruto was sure when he arrived to the arena that he made a sensory sweep of the area to make sure there was no other witnesses. Chifuyu got up to Naruto and gave him a bop on the head. "You're lucky I was still in the Comm center when you and those suits came around. The possibility of the Arena being requested for training use is very high on free days. Luckily, I was able to reserve it again for you."

"Huh... I gotta remember to read the School Rulebook then."

Chifuyu ignored him and sent a hard look at Lala, who was still tightly gripping onto Naruto's arm, she then turned to Zastin for a few seconds before looking to Naruto again. "Uzumaki, use the Shunshin Jutsu on us to get to my room. We'll talk there."

"Ooh... Are we by any chance gonna get into-" Naruto stopped in his attempt to make the order sound dirty when Chifuyu gave him a glare. "You got it, Chifuyu-nee." With a sigh, Naruto beckoned the confused Zastin over and once everyone was holding onto him, disappeared in a swirl of leaves and reappeared inside Chifuyu's room in the dorms. "We're here~!"

"Alright... I don't want to waste any time so let's get started." Chifuyu ordered. Naruto began recounting the events after the match with Cecilia, up to the point when he and Zastin were about to clash blades. Zastin then gave the story from his perspective about Lala's escapes, the most recent one, and Gid's orders. Lala then gave the same story she told Naruto earlier, finishing with a smile that she wants to marry Naruto since he proposed. "Why is it that trouble always finds you, Uzumaki..."

"If it's any consolation, I don't even remember having proposed to Lala-chan. I always keep record of my attempts to you and other girls, and I'm sure I've only been to this planet ever since mine exploded." Naruto reassured. He wasn't trying to be mean or reject Lala, but he needed to get some kind of proof that he did what she said he did. "It's not that I don't like you, Lala-chan. But I really don't remember having proposed."

"Well, which is it, Lala-sama?"

"You don't remember grabbing my breast, Naruto-kun?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto asked confusedly, even more so now that Zastin was nodding his head in understanding. Naruto then looked to the offending hand and made grabbing motions as he remembered the sensational soft feeling of Lala's breast. Chifuyu immediately noticed this and whacked him on the head with her folder for letting his thoughts drift.

"I see. Uzumaki-dono..." Zastin began, turning to Naruto. "You see, in Deviluke there used to be a very old method of proposal that was only used by the nobility. However, due to the possible ramifications of unfairness it can cause, the method was discontinued sometime before the Galaxy Unification Wars. Lala-sama most likely told you about His Majesty's... unhealthy habits, and when His Majesty conquered the Galaxy, he reinstated the old method because he found the whole premise to be amusing."

Naruto and Chifuyu could see where this was going, but the former opted to keep quiet because Zastin seemed to be hesitant in telling him what it was. "The Queen did not like it, but she gave it accompanying rules so that it would at least hold a level of fairness. The method involves... the male groping the breasts of the female." Zastin finished a little embarrassed at his liege's weird habits.

"Lala-chan..." Naruto began, turning Lala who looked towards him as she beamed a cute smile. "Are you sure that's what you want? You may have said that just so Zastin would stop attacking and attempt to take you back. You said it yourself that you don't want to marry those suitors because you don't love them."

"You're right..." Lala answered, making Zastin look wide-eyed at her answer. Lala decided to come clean, since she was already called out on her little lie. "I did just say that so Zastin would stop and to at least give me some time. But... Naruto-kun understands my feelings very well. I wanted the freedom to choose my husband, the freedom to do what I want and live the way I want. And what I want... I want to marry Naruto-kun!"

"But still... the rules to the law states that both parties need to be in agreement for it to take effect." Zastin added as he fought back some manly tears at hearing Lala's feelings on the matter. He would have let them go then and there, but he still needed to enforce his liege's rules, especially since this concerned Gid's daughter.

"I refuse..." Naruto said, making Lala adopt a downcast look at the rejection. "... To marry you as you are now." He continued, with everyone paying close attention. "You and I have the same belief that we should marry the ones we love and who loves us back. But let me ask you... Do you love me, Lala-chan?"

"..." Lala tried finding the words as she thought about it. She was grateful that the blonde protected her from the two instances she was about to be taken back, but the fact was that she just met him today. There was no easy way to answer since Lala knew she was growing the feelings, but Zastin still had his orders to retrieve her from her father, and saying she didn't love Naruto would be enough for Zastin to be able to take her back.

"That's why... You're going to stay here until you fall in love with me!" Naruto finished with an easy-going grin and putting his arms behind his head. Lala's pondering head snapped up at the blonde's declaration. Zastin was about to voice his concerns, but Naruto already beat him to the punch. "You gotta learn to be flexible in interpreting orders, Zastin-san. Just tell her old man that she's taking a very long marriage interview. You've seen how awesome I am, so I doubt my capabilities will be put in question."

"Your in luck, girl. He's the type of idiot that has no problems confessing to girls he just met." Chifuyu piped in, Naruto sending her a betrayed look for the 'idiot' comment. "Actually, I'm surprised he didn't do it to you." She muttered as her thoughts recalled that the same didn't happen with certain girls or her either. Lala couldn't help the curiosity from building up in her head at that, but saw she was not going to get anything more out of the stern teacher.

"It seems you've thought this through, Uzumaki-dono." Zastin assessed after analyzing the scenario. He knew that Gid would understand as long as the marriage interview was going somewhere, instead of all the flukes they were getting because of Lala's stubbornness.

"Damn right, I have~! This way, Lala-chan would be somewhat free and would still be well-protected." Naruto puffed his chest in pride before he was tackled by a thankful Lala. Naruto didn't mind the affectionate gesture and just let the girl smother him as she muttered her thanks repeatedly.

"Still... The other suitors won't like this..."

"They can come here and try to take Lala-chan, but I'll just send them flying~!"

Chifuyu just sighed to herself as Naruto inadvertently added another girl in the race for his affection. She knew it was mostly unintentional for his part, seeing as he was only doing it because it was in his nature. But it still miffed her a bit at how large it was becoming. Like the younger girls, and most likely Tabane and Yami, Chifuyu wanted to keep the blonde for herself. The only thing that was holding her back from changing their 'casual' relationship into something deeper was because she still had to provide and support her brother, and because she had to assist the blonde as best she can in maintaining his secret identity.

Plus, it wouldn't be very sporting of her to steal her best friend's crush while said friend was off hiding in space.

As much as she doesn't want to think of it that way, she was ahead of most of the girl's in Naruto's unintentional harem. Tabane may have given him his first official kiss from a girl, but Chifuyu was one step further than her. Chifuyu snapped out of her thoughts as Naruto was waving his hand in front of her face with a look of concern. "Something wrong, Chifuyu-nee? You spaced out for quite a while there..."

"It's nothing." Chifuyu deflected as her face returned to her usual neutral look. "What was it you were saying?"

Naruto just grinned.

(Flashback End)

* * *

"I so did not think this through..." Naruto muttered under his breath. Letting his eyes drift south to the form of the pink-haired alien princess snoozing peacefully on the same bed as him.

In the same room as his and Houki's.

Under the same sheet.

Cuddling next to him.

Completely naked.

Naruto was in a bind as he quickly thought about what to do. One, Lala was supposed to be sleeping in Chifuyu's room while she was staying here, meaning she sneaked in during the night. Two, Houki was sleeping right there on the other bed, a few minutes just before their alarm would go off for the day. As much as his inner pervert enjoyed the view, he was not stupid enough to let Houki catch him with a girl she didn't know so early in the morning. And he was sure Lala's ditzy nature would land him in more trouble.

"Lala-chan, wake up..." Naruto whispered. Sure enough, the pinkette began to stir and got up after a few more nudges. She rubbed the sleep off her eyes before settling them on Naruto.

"Good Morning, Naruto-kun!" Lala exclaimed in her usual cheery tone.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, Houki's alarm chose to go off just after Lala's greeting. Houki was always the punctual type, able to wake up the moment her alarm went off. Naruto stiffened a bit as his 'divine retribution' sense tingled. He couldn't Shunshin Lala and himself to Chifuyu's room, since he always woke up at the same time as Houki in the mornings since his arrival in IS Academy. And he couldn't just leave Lala with Chifuyu without an explanation, thus it would make Houki wonder where he was and most likely look for him.

Much to Naruto's terror, Houki's hand shot out from the sheets as she shut the alarm off. The girl herself following up shortly, rising out of bed with a yawn and a stretch of her arms. She then rubbed away the sleep off her own eyes and turned to the paralyzed Naruto, and the oddly beaming Lala. Houki gaped as she looked between Lala and Naruto, she tried saying something but couldn't find where to begin. "Hey, Houki-chan... Uhh... it's really not what it looks like..."

"Naruto-kun..." Houki's eyes were shadowed by her hair, tipping Naruto off that female fury was on the way. He wasn't afraid of the pain since he was pretty durable, so he could always take on the hits. Naruto just put on a front of dread so the girls who let out their righteous fury on him would be satisfied and happy.

"Uh... Yes?"

"HOW SHAMELESS!"

She didn't know why, but Yui felt a sense of elation course through her system as she prepared for her own school day. Her thoughts oddly drifting to the blonde lech she hasn't seen since last Monday.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Imagine my surprise when I posted the last chapter, the review count jumped from 50-something to around 80 the morning after. Thanks to you guys for that.

Onto other matters, this shouldn't have taken this long to get out. But I had to do a lot of re-writes for this chapter, mainly because I felt I wrote myself into a corner. Heck, I think even this didn't turn out as well as the earlier chapters. I actually began writing this with both Momo and Nana as the ones who dropped in (he was in a large bath with hot water/steam). I tried writing with only one of them, but it didn't turn out as good as the one where both were in, not that that one turned out any better.

So I settled with Lala, because for one, she is the catalyst where other aliens (Ren/Run, Yami, Momo, Nana) start coming to earth. I think Tama Saga put it best on his/her review. Momo's route would have cranked up the pervy moments, but I feared that an overdose of those would mess the story up greatly. Nana's route had much of the same, but mostly directed to her that her characterization may as well be either a mad or embarrassed tomato. So as much as I wanted to go through roads untrodden, I had to settle with Lala, since she would make it a little easier for me.

Originally, I would have made this cover Tatenashi's introduction as well as the aftermath with Cecilia and Zastin as his usual comic relief self, but I think only one other fic actually has Naruto fighting him, so I went with the latter.

Now, my problem is not only an internal thing with the fic but also an external one because there's so much stuff I want to explore in terms of fics, like Date A Live, Sword Art Online, Shingeki no Kyojin, Infamous: Second Son (to name a few) and the like that I keep trying to resist the temptation of writing those out. Not to mention that I took a look at my other work and assessed what I can still actually continue. So, I conducted a selection and removed the ones that was very likely not going anywhere. My apologies to those who liked those fics.

I will be taking a break from this fic so I can work on my other stuff.


End file.
